Authentication
Apply authentication methods to ensure that only users and systems with a verified identity can access your applications, web pages, APIs, and data. Authentication in Pega Platform includes user logins, platform requests to external. services, and external service requests to Pega Platform You can also authenticate by using an external identity provider.
User logins
In a browser, a user logs in to a Pega Platform application, or a developer logs in to Dev Studio to make changes to an application. Authentication services verify these user credentials.
For more information, seeAuthentication services.
| Authentication type | Protocol |
|---|---|
| SAML 2.0 | An external identity provider that supports the SAML 2.0
protocol, such as Microsoft Active Directory For more information, see Web single sign-on (SSO) with SAML 2.0. |
| OpenID Connect | An external identity provider that supports the OpenID Connect (OIDC) protocol |
| Basic credentials | A user ID and password that are stored in the Pega Platform database or in another internal or external data source |
| Token credentials | A token that is validated by an external identity provider or by the OAuth 2.0 authorization layer in Pega Platform (often used in offline mobile applications) |
| Anonymous | No verification until partway through a session For example, an unauthenticated user can add items to a shopping cart, and enter credentials when they check out. |
You can configure a custom authentication service to use information that is stored within the identity provider to determine the user roles and privileges in Pega Platform.
Make your application more secure by using simple selections in the authentication service rule form to implement policies such as multi-factor authentication. For example, each time a user logs in, the application can send an authentication code to the user by email. To log in, the user enters that code in addition to a password.
You can use authentication services (including SAML 2.0, OpenID Connect, or token credentials) to implement single sign-on (SSO) solutions. SSO solutions limit repetitive requests for credentials when users access a variety of systems or applications.
For complete control over the login process, you can define custom authentication services.
Pega Platform connectors Requests to external services from Pega Platform connectors
To invoke an external REST service to get information from an external system or application, a Pega Platform application must authenticate to that service. This type of authentication uses an authentication profile and OAuth provider data instances. The supported forms of authentication include basic credentials, NT LAN Manager credentials (NTLM), OAuth 1.0, and OAuth 2.0.
External requests for execution to Pega Platform services
An external system or application can invoke a REST service that is defined in Pega Platform or within a Pega Platform application to get case information. This type of authentication uses a service type and service package instances. Supported forms of authentication include basic credentials, OAuth 2.0, and custom authentication.
Session management
After the initial authentication, session management features ensure that requests for access to the system (and its data) continue to come from authenticated requestors. In Pega Platform, you can define various policies to control session time-outs, automatically terminate sessions, deactivate operators after successive days of inactivity, run cross-origin resource sharing (CORS), detect cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and so on.