{"id":3750,"date":"2015-12-15T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T15:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jumpcloud.com\/blog\/?p=3750"},"modified":"2020-04-09T15:56:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T21:56:25","slug":"cloud-based-user-authentication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/cloud-based-user-authentication","title":{"rendered":"Cloud-based User Authentication"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Historically, most IT assets were on-premises and protected behind a firewall. As such, the authentication server \u2013 usually Microsoft <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/ldap-vs-active-directory\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Active Directory or OpenLDAP<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 lived next to the server, endpoints, and applications that it served. When somebody logged in, the credentials were passed locally to the AD or LDAP server to be processed. In a world where IT assets are now located everywhere, how does authentication work?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Shift to Web-based Infrastructure <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Authentication servers are considered by any organization to be core infrastructure services. Without authentication, IT organizations have no control over who has access to what IT resources. Over the last decade, there has been a fundamental shift to the cloud, resulting in some dramatic changes for key IT infrastructure components. Servers now live at Infrastructure-as-a-Service providers such as AWS or Google Compute Engine. Endpoints are tied to their users, who are now more mobile than ever, working from virtually any location around the world. And, with the advent of SaaS-based applications, an organization\u2019s core application infrastructure may now be web-based.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For security purposes, authentication servers have been housed internally and rarely opened to the public Internet. Any remote devices or users were required to authenticate through the VPN. Now, when virtually all resources are in the cloud, VPNs pose a significant headache for IT. <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/challenging-perception-on-premises-means-better-security\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On-premises user authentication system &nbsp;are out of place in a cloud-based world<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Cloud-based User Authentication is Delivered<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, a new generation of technology has emerged to <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/cloud-authentication-services-solutions-for-modern-it\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">enable cloud-based user authentication<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The platform is called Directory-as-a-Service (DaaS), and it\u2019s delivered as a SaaS-based solution from the cloud. The central user directory securely authenticates users, devices, and applications, whether it be in the cloud or on-premises. The <\/span><a href=\"\/blog\/how-a-directory-service-works-in-the-cloud\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cloud-based directory service<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> securely communicates to devices over a mutual TLS tunnel, ensuring high security and eliminating the need for VPNs, thus saving IT staff time and money. IT organizations can enable their employees to work from anywhere with virtually any provider, ensuring that their core corporate mission comes first.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cloud-based user authentication removes the necessity of keeping your IT infrastructure on-premises while still maintaining control over user access. If you would like to learn more about how you can leverage cloud-based user authentication to make your workforce more productive and secure, <\/span><a href=\"\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">drop us a note<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We\u2019d be happy to discuss <\/span><a href=\"\/product\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Directory-as-a-Service<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and other approaches to solving core security and productivity problems. If you\u2019d like to play with a cloud-based directory yourself, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/console.jumpcloud.com\/signup\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">feel free to give JumpCloud a try<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 your first 10 users are free forever.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a world where IT assets are now located everywhere, how does authentication work?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,2781],"tags":[],"collection":[2779,2777,2776,2775,2780],"platform":[],"funnel_stage":[3016],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cloud-based User Authentication - 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