Editing Authentication (section)

{{Short description|Act of proving an assertion}}
{{Distinguish|Authenticity (disambiguation){{!}}Authenticity|Authorization}}
[[File:ATMUser.140209.jpg|thumb|ATM user authenticating himself]]
'''Authentication''' (from {{Langx|el|αὐθεντικός}} ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an [[Logical assertion|assertion]], such as the [[Digital identity|identity]] of a computer system user. In contrast with [[identification]], the act of indicating a person or thing's identity, authentication is the process of verifying that identity.<ref>{{Citation |last=Abu-Nimeh |first=Saeed |title=Three-Factor Authentication |date=2011 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security |pages=1287–1288 |editor-last=van Tilborg |editor-first=Henk C. A. |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_793 |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240423025557/http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_793 |archive-date=2024-04-23 |url-status=live |place=Boston, MA |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_793 |isbn=978-1-4419-5905-8 |editor2-last=Jajodia |editor2-first=Sushil}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=What is Authentication? Definition of Authentication, Authentication Meaning|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/authentication|access-date=2020-11-15|website=The Economic Times}}</ref>

Authentication is relevant to multiple fields. In [[art]], [[antique]]s, and [[anthropology]], a common problem is verifying that a given artifact was produced by a certain person, or in a certain place (i.e. to assert that it is not [[counterfeit]]), or in a given period of history (e.g. by determining the age via [[carbon dating]]). In [[computer science]], verifying a user's identity is often required to allow access to confidential data or systems.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=McTigue |first1=E. |last2=Thornton |first2=E. |last3=Wiese |first3=P. |year=2013 |title=Authentication Projects for Historical Fiction: Do you believe it? |url=http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1012775 |url-status=live |journal=The Reading Teacher |volume=66 |issue=6 |pages=495–505 |doi=10.1002/trtr.1132 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707211148/http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1012775 |archive-date=7 July 2015}}</ref> It might involve validating personal [[identity document]]s.