Book Image

Azure Active Directory for Secure Application Development

By : Sjoukje Zaal
Book Image

Azure Active Directory for Secure Application Development

By: Sjoukje Zaal

Overview of this book

Azure Active Directory for Secure Application Development is your one-stop shop for learning how to develop secure applications using modern authentication techniques with Microsoft Azure AD. Whether you’re working with single-tenant, multi-tenant, or line-of-business applications, this book contains everything you need to secure them. The book wastes no time in diving into the practicalities of Azure AD. Right from the start, you’ll be setting up tenants, adding users, and registering your first application in Azure AD. The balance between grasping and applying theory is maintained as you move from the intermediate to the advanced: from the basics of OAuth to getting your hands dirty with building applications and registering them in Azure AD. Want to pin down the Microsoft Graph, Azure AD B2C, or authentication protocol best practices? We’ve got you covered. The full range of Azure AD functionality from a developer perspective is here for you to explore with confidence. By the end of this secure app development book, you’ll have developed the skill set that so many organizations are clamoring for. Security is mission-critical, and after reading this book, you will be too.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Started with the Microsoft Identity Platform
5
Part 2: Authentication and Protocols
9
Part 3: Azure AD B2C

Authentication versus authorization

Before we dive into how authentication evolved over the past few decades and the different protocols, there is one basic topic that needs to be covered: the difference between authentication and authorization.

Both terms are often used in combination with security, especially when it comes to gaining access to a system. Although they are both heavily related, they are very different. There is a huge difference between gaining successful entry to an application (authentication) and what you are allowed to do once you are inside (authorization).

In the next few sections, we are going to cover both terms in more detail.

Authentication

Authentication means confirming your identity. It is the process of proving that you are who you say you are (this is sometimes shortened to AuthN). To verify the identity of the user, the system obtains some credentials to verify the user. If the credentials that are provided by the user (or system or application...