How SAML 2.0 Authentication Works and Why It Matters

What is SAML 2.0?

At its core, Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) 2.0 is a means to exchange authorization and authentication information between services. SAML is frequently used to implement internal corporate single sign-on (SSO) solutions where the user logs into a service that acts as the single source of identity which then grants access to a subset of other internal services.

The advantage of adopting SAML/SSO from a security perspective is clear: