Is Basic Authentication secure over SSL?

Posted on by Muna Meyer

Is Basic Authentication secure over SSL?

Generally BASIC-Auth is never considered secure. Using it over HTTPS will prevent the request and response from being eavesdropped on, but it doesn’t fix the other structural security problems with BASIC-Auth. BASIC-Auth actually caches the username and password you enter, in the browser.

How do I add an SSL certificate to Web API?

For that do the following:

  1. Open your web API solution in Visual Studio,
  2. Then select the web API project in Solution Explorer.
  3. Select View Menu in Visual Studio.
  4. Now select “Properties window” or click F4.
  5. A window pane will open.
  6. There select “SSL Enabled” property and set it to true.

How do I add Basic Authentication to Web API?

In IIS Manager, go to Features View, select Authentication, and enable Basic authentication. In your Web API project, add the [Authorize] attribute for any controller actions that need authentication. A client authenticates itself by setting the Authorization header in the request.

Is Basic Authentication secure FOR REST API?

Basic API Authentication Note: basic authentication is very vulnerable to hijacks and man-in-the-middle attacks when no encryption is in use. Due to this limitation, this method of authentication is only recommended when paired with SSL.

What is basic HTTP authentication in Web API?

In basic HTTP authentication, the client passes their username and password in the HTTP request header. Typically, using this technique we encrypt user credentials string into base64 encoded string and decrypt this base64 encoded string into plain text. You can also use another encryption and decryption technique.

How do I encrypt Basic Authentication?

How to encrypt basic authentication credentials in a Web Api application

  1. Step 1: Create a new Web Api application:
  2. Step 2: Add a class for handling encryption and decryption.
  3. Step 3: Create a new Authentication filter.
  4. Step 4: Ensure basic authentication filter is applied in Values controller.

Which authentication is best for Web API?

API Key Authentication is also easy to implement for API providers and application developers. With a federated system module, OAuth Authentication 2.0 offers security scalability and the best user experience. However, it’s also more work for developers and API providers to implement and maintain.

Is basic auth good?

Basic authentication is simple and convenient, but it is not secure. It should only be used to prevent unintentional access from nonmalicious parties or used in combination with an encryption technology such as SSL.

Should I use basic auth?

Using basic authentication for authenticating users is usually not recommended since sending the user credentials for every request would be considered bad practice. The user has no means of knowing what the app will use them for, and the only way to revoke the access is to change the password.

How is authentication done in Web API?

To access the web API method, we have to pass the user credentials in the request header. If we do not pass the user credentials in the request header, then the server returns 401 (unauthorized) status code indicating the server supports Basic Authentication.

What is SSL certificate based authentication in web API?

This document describes the purpose, features and implementation of SSL Certificate based authentication in Web API projects. Web API assumes that authentication happens in the host. For web-hosting, the host is IIS, which uses HTTP modules for authentication.

How do I authenticate a web API in IIS?

In IIS Manager, go to Features View, select Authentication, and enable Basic authentication. In your Web API project, add the [Authorize] attribute for any controller actions that need authentication. A client authenticates itself by setting the Authorization header in the request. Browser clients perform this step automatically.

Why is basic authentication not secure over HTTPS?

Because the credentials are sent unencrypted, Basic authentication is only secure over HTTPS. See Working with SSL in Web API. Basic authentication is also vulnerable to CSRF attacks. After the user enters credentials, the browser automatically sends them on subsequent requests to the same domain,…

What is basic authentication ASP NET Web API?

Basic Authentication in ASP.NET Web API. Basic authentication is defined in RFC 2617, HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access Authentication. User credentials are sent in the request. Credentials are sent as plaintext. Credentials are sent with every request. No way to log out, except by ending the browser session.