It is the process of verifying a user´s identity.

Authentication is the verification of identity of a service user. The following basic methods for identifying identity are being used:

• depending on what the user knows (he knows the correct combination of user ID and password or PIN),
• depending on what the user has (some technical device that user owns – hardware key, smart card, private key, etc.),
• depending on what the user is (the user has biometric properties that can be checked – fingerprint, iris or retina image, etc.),
• depending on what the user can do (he can correctly answer a randomly generated control question).

For example

• enter the user name and the corresponding password,
• possession of a personal certificate and knowledge of its private key, etc.,
• putting an identification chip card,
• authentication using a previously stored fingerprint,
• scanning the iris,
• etc.

Currently, the CTU VIC is working on a project to unify the login interface of university applications.  (2025)

Today, a multi-factor authentication is often used, when more methods of authentication are combined.