SSO stands for single sign-on and is a user authentication service that allows a user to use one set of login credentials. For example, a username and password to access multiple services and applications. The service recognizes the user for all the applications.
SSO is helpful for logging user activities and monitoring accounts. In an SSO service, a module retrieves the authentication for a user, while authenticating against a users repository (where things get stored). SSO is so widely talked about because it supplies users the security they need to keep their information safe. From a business standpoint, SSO is very useful because it is important to keep their files, records, employee information, banking information, etc safe.
Remembering Only One Password
SSO allows only one username and password for a user to remember. You may be asking yourself “If I only have one password, doesn’t it make my information less secure?” The solution is by having a very strong password containing capital letters, punctuation and numbers; which is much more secure than having five easy-to-remember passwords. Having easy passwords may cause you to forget them often, which can also lead to your information being vulnerable to password resetting systems.
Convenience
SSO requires a user to sign in only one time to access multiple apps. This can be beneficial to you and your business because most of the time, companies have numerous different software that require different passwords. Therefore, using SSO saves time. Instead of having to guess and reset passwords over and over again, just have them come from one single source. This is also useful especially if you want to be productive right away. You don’t have to waste your time getting out your long list of passwords and slowly typing it in to make sure you don’t miss a character. We all know the frustrating feeling when you get that long password incorrect and you have to waste even more time going back and checking where you messed up the password.
Security
You can have control over your SSO account, depending on a few circumstances, a user is usually allowed to authorize access or not. This is helpful if someone is trying to get into one of your accounts and you need to either allow or deny access. SSO also has two-three factor authentication which means implementing specific information about yourself to allow access to your account. For example questions like “your first pet’s name” or “your mother’s maiden name” are great examples of authentication questions used by SSO. This means that your information will remain secure, even if, by the off chance, someone found out your username and password
In the end, SSO is a great option for remembering only one set of login credentials, being convenient to the user and keeping information secure. As an employer, you wouldn’t want your company information floating around with unsafe security networks. However, with SSO, your information will be safer than ever.