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Cyber Security Academy · Lesson

SAML and Federation

Enterprise single sign-on.

What SAML Is

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data, dominant in enterprise SSO.

  • It lets a corporate identity provider vouch for a user to many applications.
  • SAML 2.0 predates OIDC and remains entrenched in B2B and workforce identity.

Understanding SAML is essential for defending enterprise federation, where a single trust flaw exposes every connected app.

IdP and SP Roles

SAML federation has two principal parties.

  • Identity Provider (IdP) authenticates the user and issues assertions (Okta, Entra ID, Ping).
  • Service Provider (SP) the application that trusts the IdP and grants access.

Trust is established out of band by exchanging metadata, including signing certificates and endpoint URLs.

IdP  -> authenticates user, signs assertion
SP   -> consumes assertion, grants access
Metadata exchange establishes trust (certs, ACS URLs)

All lessons in this course

  1. OAuth 2.0 Flows
  2. OpenID Connect (OIDC)
  3. SAML and Federation
  4. Token Attacks and Hardening
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