ABSTRACT
Cybersecurity is a vital concern for users, developers, and service providers of computers and networks. Among security concerns, identity verification, or authentication, is the most fundamental. A practical understanding of security measures and technologies will be helpful for anyone in the increasingly digital world. When software is distributed online, a good practice is to include a fingerprint for the software and a code signing certificate. Such a package allows the software download application to identify the software publisher and check the integrity of the download. A system checks the user identification (ID) and password against securely stored values, usually in encrypted form, to perform authentication. Repeated failure to log in can result in a user being locked out of the system. If the user ID and password entered check out, then the user has been authenticated and will be authorized to access protected resources, collectively known as a security realm.
