The hottest Authentication Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Passkeys, Phishing-Resistant MFA, and the Passwordless Revolution

Identity Revive • 38 implied HN points • 04 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Authentication User Experience Software Integration
  1. Passkeys use a public-private key system for logging in. This makes them safer than passwords because the private key never leaves your device, reducing the risk of hacking.
  2. Passkeys can sync across devices or stay on one device, offering flexibility for users. This means you can log in from different devices easily without needing to remember passwords.
  3. Major companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft support passkeys, making them easy to use on different platforms. This helps create a passwordless future that's more secure and user-friendly.

Trends in CIAM

ciamweekly • 250 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Software Startup Authentication Market Trends
  1. There are many new startups in authentication since Auth0 was bought. This is because developers can easily build and use these tools themselves.
  2. Self-hosting is becoming popular again with modern solutions available. Some companies make it tough to download these options so users rely on their SaaS services instead.
  3. Many businesses are moving away from creating their own authentication systems. They see it as something best handled by specialized vendors, which helps them focus on their main goals.

🧠 Knowledge Series #23: Passkeys explained

Department of Product • 314 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Security Product Development User Experience Cybersecurity Authentication
  1. Passkeys are digital keys replacing traditional passwords, enhancing security and creating unique keys for each account and device.
  2. Major companies like Uber, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are actively supporting and implementing passkeys for a passwordless future.
  3. Product teams can implement passkeys by understanding how they work and following a step-by-step guide for integration.

JWTs - Use Responsibly

Permit.io’s Substack • 59 implied HN points • 23 May 24
🕹 Technology Web Development Cybersecurity Authentication APIs Data Structures
  1. JWTs are great for authentication but should be used carefully. They are not meant for detailed permission checks and can create security issues if misused.
  2. They are static once issued, meaning any changes to a user's role won't be reflected until the token expires. This can lead to potential security risks.
  3. JWTs are suitable for stateless, distributed systems and coarse-grained authorization, but for fine-grained control, other tools should be used.

Look out! Hackers are coming for your travel account

Elliott Confidential • 137 implied HN points • 11 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Travel Online Services Data Privacy Authentication
  1. Use two-factor authentication and authenticator apps to protect your online travel accounts from hackers.
  2. Enable login notifications and maximize security settings on platforms to monitor any unauthorized access to your accounts.
  3. Avoid using simple or repeated passwords, practice safe Wi-Fi usage, and be cautious of urgent emails or suspicious links to prevent hacking incidents.
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I coded the security system myself, it is very secure, because it doesn't work.

Permit.io’s Substack • 99 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Security Open Source Authentication
  1. Before building your own security system, think about whether it's really necessary. You might find better solutions that are already out there.
  2. Developers often dislike focusing on security tasks because they can be boring. It’s typically more efficient to use existing security tools instead of creating something new.
  3. There are standard systems like OAuth and JWT for handling security, and using open-source or developer platforms can save you a lot of headaches.

Identity 101: Authentication and Authorization

Identity, Authenticity, and Security • 2 HN points • 04 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Security Software Development Authentication Authorization
  1. Authentication is about proving who you are. It's like showing your ID before entering a building.
  2. Authorization is about what you are allowed to do. It's like having a VIP pass that lets you access certain areas.
  3. Both authentication and authorization are important for keeping applications secure. They help protect personal data and maintain trust with users.

Microsoft Sentinel SOC 101: How to Detect and Mitigate Login Attempts Using Legacy Auth with Microsoft Sentinel

Rod’s Blog • 119 implied HN points • 24 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Security Authentication Management Monitoring Mitigation
  1. Legacy authentication poses a significant security risk as it makes it easier for attackers to compromise user accounts.
  2. Microsoft Entra ID recommends disabling legacy authentication to improve security.
  3. Microsoft Sentinel can help detect and mitigate login attempts using legacy authentication by analyzing sign-in logs, creating alerts, and taking appropriate actions.

Brief: Going Passwordless - the New Trend in Online Security

Rod’s Blog • 19 implied HN points • 08 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Security Authentication Microsoft Online Services Biometrics
  1. Passwordless authentication aims to improve security by eliminating the need for traditional passwords and using methods like biometrics or hardware tokens instead.
  2. Going passwordless reduces the risk of password breaches and phishing attacks, making the login process faster and more convenient for users.
  3. Challenges of going passwordless include user trust in new technologies, compatibility issues, privacy concerns, and suitability for certain online services.

A tale of iCloud account recovery

Kamil’s Substack • 3 HN points • 14 May 24
🕹 Technology Security Privacy Authentication Payment processing Digital Identity
  1. During iCloud account recovery, you may be asked for credit card details that are actually verified by running a charge, causing issues even with correct information.
  2. Securing your own email account can involve user-controlled methods like two-factor authentication with a physical token, whereas iCloud's security measures are more restrictive and dictated by the service provider.
  3. Recovering an iCloud account might involve providing credit card details, which are tested by running a transaction, leading to potential issues if the card details change.

Incident Post-Mortem: Backdoor exposed in popular sex robot operating system leaves millions of men sexless.

Davidovits! • 1 HN point • 05 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Security Engineering Software Authentication Robots
  1. An unintended vulnerability in a core library led to widespread sexbot malfunctions.
  2. Prolonged eye contact was found to reduce startup time for older users and increase customer satisfaction.
  3. The incident post-mortem revealed a critical backdoor compromise that affected millions of sex robot users.

What are OWASP’s Top 10 API vulnerabilities?

microapis.io • 3 HN points • 27 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Vulnerabilities Authentication
  1. OWASP's Top 10 API vulnerabilities include issues like broken user authentication, excessive data exposure, and lack of resources & rate limiting.
  2. Broken Object Level Authorization can lead to attackers accessing information they shouldn't.
  3. API security is crucial due to the growing use of APIs, potential risks, and the significant impact of poor API security on organizations.

Lỗ hổng chuyển tiền hay là suy nghĩ như một hacker

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 19 implied HN points • 04 Jan 20
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Mobile Apps API design Authentication
  1. When designing an API for money transfers in a mobile banking system, it's crucial to consider user authentication and authorization to prevent fraudulent activities.
  2. In mobile apps, the challenge lies in implementing user authentication without standard mechanisms like HTTP cookies, requiring solutions like OAuth or JWT.
  3. Creating security solutions for mobile banking requires a blend of applied security and product security expertise, emphasizing the importance of identity access management beyond just finding vulnerabilities.

Advanced Swift Actors: Re-entrancy & Interleaving

Jacob’s Tech Tavern • 2 HN points • 10 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Swift Concurrency Actors Authentication iOS
  1. Understanding Swift actors is crucial for managing re-entrancy and interleaving in your code.
  2. Building an optimal authentication service involves utilizing Swift actors to minimize duplicate work and network overhead.
  3. Swift concurrency model utilizes cooperative threading, executors, and actors to create an illusion of single-threadedness and prevent data races.

B2C vs B2B vs B2B2E CIAM

ciamweekly • 1 HN point • 11 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Identity Management Authentication Online Security User Experience Integration
  1. B2C, B2B, and B2B2E applications require different approaches to customer identity and access management (CIAM) systems.
  2. B2C applications aim at end consumers, requiring smooth registration and authentication processes due to user choice.
  3. B2B and B2B2E applications cater to business and employee users, with focus on organization structures, payment collection, and different authentication needs.

Chữ A đầu tiên: authentication

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 19 implied HN points • 17 Jul 07
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Authentication Data Protection Information Security
  1. Authentication is the first step in the security realm, involving proving if you are who you claim to be through factors like something you have, something you are, something you know, or something you trust.
  2. Using multi-factor authentication, especially two or three factors, enhances security by requiring multiple types of proof for identity verification.
  3. Security measures in authentication should balance safety and convenience, as perfect security doesn't exist. Implementing n-factor authentication beyond three can become too inconvenient.

6 security advancements that Plang offers for the user

Ingig • 0 implied HN points • 13 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Security Programming Data Protection Authentication Encryption
  1. Plang has built-in security mechanisms, preventing common issues like SQL injection and XSS, allowing developers to focus more on functionality.
  2. Plang offers password-less authentication using ECC, enhancing security and providing a user-friendly login experience.
  3. Plang promotes privacy through local data storage, preventing large-scale breaches and unauthorized access to sensitive information.

AnyCable v1.2: JWT identification and "hot streams"

AnyCable Broadcasts • 0 implied HN points • 29 Sep 21
🕹 Technology Web Development Backend Real-time Authentication Performance
  1. AnyCable v1.2 introduces JWT identification and 'hot streams' for powering up efficient Hotwire frontends by moving functions from Ruby to Go.
  2. JWT identification standardizes authentication for WebSockets, protects from cross-site WebSocket hijacking, and boosts performance by removing the need for RPC calls.
  3. Combining JWT identification with signed streams in AnyCable allows the creation of subscriptions without touching RPC, offering improved efficiency for Hotwire and CableReady functionality.

Exploring Rails 7, Hotwire and AnyCable speedy streams

AnyCable Broadcasts • 0 implied HN points • 23 Dec 21
🕹 Technology Programming Web Development Ruby Real-time Authentication
  1. The post explores building a new Rails 7 application with features like `--css=tailwind`, Turbo Frames and Streams, and configuring AnyCable with JWT authentication and speedy streams.
  2. The screencast series 'AnyCasts' covers real-time web app development using Ruby and other languages, alongside Hotwire and Stimulus Reflex.
  3. Resources include the Rails 7 release announcement, Turbo Frames documentation, AnyCable blog, and plugins like AnyCable Rails JWT for JWT identification in AnyCable.

FIDO U2F: công nghệ xác minh hai bước chống phishing

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 0 implied HN points • 30 Aug 16
🕹 Technology Security Authentication Internet Software Devices
  1. FIDO U2F is a two-step verification technology that is safer and easier to use compared to other similar technologies like SMS OTP or RSA SecurID.
  2. The advantages of FIDO U2F include safety, ease of use, open standards, and reasonable pricing.
  3. U2F technology eliminates the need for users to manually check website addresses, providing a technical solution to phishing attacks.

matrix card - super cheap yet secure T-FA solution

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 0 implied HN points • 01 Apr 08
🕹 Technology Security Authentication Development Phishing
  1. Two-factor authentication (T-FA) utilizes two different methods for higher security. Commonly, it involves something a person knows and something they have or are.
  2. Using a matrix card as the second authentication factor is a cost-effective solution compared to other options like RSA SecurID, making it easy to implement and inexpensive for service providers and customers.
  3. While T-FA with a matrix card is helpful, it does not fully protect against certain attacks like man-in-the-middle phishing. Authentication of transactions and vigilance for abnormal behavior are crucial for enhanced security.

Of users and direct messaging (pt. 1)

AnyCable Broadcasts • 0 implied HN points • 16 Feb 22
🕹 Technology Programming Web Development Authentication
  1. The post discusses the preliminary work for adding a direct messaging feature, such as setting up user profiles and authentication via Rails `has_secure_password`.
  2. Links to resources like Rails `has_secure_password` documentation, Turbo Frames, and Stimulus JS are provided for further learning.
  3. The use of Turbo Frames and Stimulus JS for managing state and persisting elements across page loads is highlighted.

Three best practice approaches to authentication

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 13 Dec 22
🕹 Technology Authentication APIs Microservices Networking Security
  1. Service-level authentication puts the responsibility of authentication on individual services, allowing better control over which endpoints are authenticated and which aren't.
  2. API-gateway authentication centralizes authentication at a gateway, simplifying downstream services' implementation but requires careful configuration to prevent vulnerabilities.
  3. Service-mesh authentication uses sidecar proxies to provide authentication, set up transparently for services, enhancing security but adding complexity and performance overhead.

API Authentication with GCP Identity-Aware Proxy

realkinetic • 0 implied HN points • 25 Jan 19
🕹 Technology Cloud Computing APIs Authentication Security
  1. Cloud Identity-Aware Proxy (Cloud IAP) enables authentication and authorization for applications in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) by requiring users to login with their Google account and have appropriate access roles.
  2. Configuring Identity-Aware Proxy involves associating it with an App Engine application or HTTPS Load Balancer and adding service accounts for programmatic authentication.
  3. Authenticating API consumers with Cloud IAP involves generating a JWT signed with service account credentials, exchanging it for a Google-signed OIDC token, and making authenticated requests by setting the bearer token in the Authorization header.

Seldom Considered CIAM Attack Vectors

ciamweekly • 0 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Security Authentication Passwords Verification
  1. Implement email verification in CIAM systems to connect new accounts to valid email owners, reducing account takeovers and bot attacks.
  2. When changing login identifiers in CIAM systems, re-verification is crucial to prevent unauthorized access and alert users of potential attacks.
  3. Account recovery in CIAM systems should not be sent to unverified accounts and should implement additional security measures like session invalidation and multi-factor authentication.

Identity, authentication, and authorisation from the ground up

Tranquil Thoughts • 0 implied HN points • 28 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Authentication Security Software Internet User Experience
  1. Authentication methods can be divided into three categories: knowledge-based (like passwords), ownership-based (like email or phone verification), and identity-based (like biometric data). Each has its pros and cons.
  2. Passwords are often a weak way to authenticate because people forget them or use easily guessable ones. This can lead to security risks and poor user experience.
  3. New techniques like WebAuthn allow users to log in without passwords, using secure methods like biometrics or hardware keys. This reduces the chances of phishing and makes the process smoother.

Demystifying Identity, Authentication and Authorisation: Part 1

Tranquil Thoughts • 0 implied HN points • 23 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Identity Management Authentication Authorization
  1. Identity is simply who you are. It's what makes you unique as a person.
  2. Authentication is about proving that you are who you say you are. This can be done by checking an ID or other ways.
  3. Authorization comes after authentication and decides what you can access or do. It's like a doorman letting you into a bar after checking your ID.

Deliverable authentication as a useful pattern

ciamweekly • 0 implied HN points • 11 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Authentication Web Design User Experience Software Development Online Security
  1. Some accounts don't need strong security, so using email or phone for login is enough. It's easy for users who only want to use something once or rarely.
  2. Many people prefer quick login methods, like magic links or one-time codes, instead of complicated passwords. This reduces hassle and makes using apps simpler.
  3. Removing barriers to access can benefit both users and companies. When login is easier, users are more likely to engage with the app.

Introducing Microservices

Overflow • 0 implied HN points • 29 May 23
🕹 Technology Microservices Architecture Scaling Communication Authentication
  1. Microservices architecture provides a solution to the challenges of monolithic applications by structuring an application as a collection of loosely coupled services.
  2. Transitioning from a monolith to microservices involves splitting different modules into independent services, offering flexibility in programming languages, databases, and scaling components of the application independently.
  3. Microservices offer benefits like continuous delivery, easy testing, fault tolerance, and better scalability compared to monolithic applications, making them a favorite among developers.