Single sign-on, which some people abbreviate as SSO, is a critical IT solution. If you work in that field, you might already know a lot about it. If you’re not particularly savvy in this area, you should still understand some SSO basics. That is because your company might want to utilize it.
We’ll discuss single sign-on in this article. We’ll cover what it is, what you can do with it, and we’ll also go over a few pros and cons.
What is Single Sign-On?
If you want to know about single sign-on, you should first understand that it has existed since the early 2000s, when workplaces began to utilize web-based apps. Users needed a secure, easy way to authenticate these applications, and single sign-on emerged as a suitable go-to solution.
Single sign-on took off because of the pandemic, though. That is because remote and hybrid work models flooded the market. That was the only way some businesses could keep running with Covid-19 making in-person work untenable.
Many workplaces needed to use web-based apps more than ever before. Some of them had employees all over the country. Single sign-on made it possible for these employees to use web-based apps to do their work, since they could sign on and authenticate the apps using the SSO model.
How Does It Work?
When you think about single sign-on, the basic concept is that a web application user only has to log in once, and then they can access many different IT resources. If you don’t go this route, you need to log in multiple times per day to access the IT-related resources you need to do your job.
It makes sense that workers would like this model since they don’t have to keep typing in their name and password over and over. If you don’t need to keep logging in, that will save you some valuable time. That time adds up over the typical workday.
If you use multiple applications during the day, as so many employees do, SSO can save you a lot of headaches. With the SSO setup in place, you can use a single credential the SSO provider gives you.
You can switch rapidly back and forth between different applications. You can imagine how useful that is when you’re operating with time constraints and trying to finish a product for your boss or an impatient client.
The Authentication Process
With SSO, the provider handles the entire authentication process. When we say authentication, what we mean is that the SSO provider checks to make sure the app you’re using is authentic and not some facsimile a hacker set up to potentially steal your login information.
You need to watch out for this sort of hacker activity since this is an easy way for someone unauthorized to learn about a company’s proprietary secrets. A hacker might also steal customer data. At that point, identity theft is possible.
Why Do Companies Like Single Sign-On So Much?
If you want to talk about some pros related to installing the single sign-on option, probably the most significant one is that SSO reduces how many potential attack surfaces exist. As we mentioned, the user logs in once per day when they start working. They use only one credential set.
That means there’s only one login ID and password the worker has to remember. They won’t have to keep a master password and login ID list handy that they need to reference throughout the day as they log in and out of various apps. Instead, they can commit the login and password to memory, and they won’t need a note reminding them that someone might notice and steal.
Enterprise security is probably the SSO side effect that companies most appreciate. Simply put, SSO means better security. At a time when hacker attacks and data leaks occur more frequently than ever before, most businesses feel like they can’t afford not to go with the SSO method.
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance is another reason why SSO is so popular right now in many different niches and industries. Many companies need to meet certain regulatory requirements if they want to remain operational. For instance, their websites and apps need to meet minimum security standards. They must have the latest technology guarding against hacker attacks.
If they don’t use SSO, it’s harder for them to meet those regulations. That can lead to various entities fining them if they find out their online security measures are not up to par.
Also, if a company does not use SSO and a data breach occurs, that will generate a lot of bad press for them. They will probably lose many customers that way. It makes sense that clients will not want to do any further business with a company that allows hackers to penetrate their online defenses.
It’s no better for that company’s workers. If a business entity elects not to use SSO, which is so widely available now, and a hacker steals worker data, they can use it in all kinds of nefarious ways. When that happens, would-be employees won’t want to have anything to do with that company. All the industry’s top talent will go with that business’s competitors instead.
IT Helpdesk Costs
Because SSO is so streamlined, many companies also like it because once they implement it, it’s far less likely they will need to have an IT staff standing by at all times to deal with authentication-related breakdowns. The whole SSO model is simple and efficient. Most companies need IT workers to help them with various resources, but once they install SSO, they won’t overburden those staff members.
If the IT helpdesk is not fielding work orders having to do with app authentication all day, they can focus on other areas. Most companies can also scale back their IT department, which will save them some money in the long run.
What About Some Disadvantages?
At this point, you might wonder why every single business does not use SSO if it works so well. It’s true that many companies use SSO at this point, but there are always drawbacks to any system, and SSO has a few noteworthy ones.
Probably the biggest SSO problem you need to know about before you go with this system is that anyone who uses it needs to have an extra-strong password. Maybe you have a larger company with many workers. Those workers continue to operate from remote locations since the pandemic continues, and some employees would prefer to avoid in-person work.
If so, you have a remote workforce checking in from all over the country or even internationally. Every one of the workers needs to come up with a strong password, probably one a random password generator gives them. These random password generators come up with passwords that are random numbers, symbols, and letters, rather than simple words or phrases that a hacker might easily guess.
If a hacker gets past a single sign-on setup by cracking or guessing a code, they can immediately access all the apps a worker uses. If that happens, data theft will invariably take place. The hacker could even crash the company’s entire network if that’s what they had in mind.
Are There Additional SSO-Related Cons?
One other potential SSO problem is that if you decide to use it, and then it stops working for some reason, your employees will not be able to access any of the websites or apps they need to do their work. If you have a software suite all your workers use, and SSO goes down for any reason, you will need to get it back up and running before your employees can get back to work.
These SSO failures don’t happen very often, but they are always possible. Updating the system is crucial to make these failures less likely. That’s why you’ll still need at least a token IT staff presence if you decide to use SSO after reading this article.
Should You Install SSO for Your Company?
Now that you know a little about SSO, you might decide that it makes sense to install and use it for your business enterprise. If you’re interested in utilizing it, you will probably need to talk to your IT department. They will likely know whether your system will benefit from it.
If you do move forward with the IT department’s blessing, you can probably have your SSO system operational in short order. Then, it’s just a matter of introducing your workers to it.
It’s also possible that you might want to try the SSO system on a short-term basis. You may give it a trial run to see whether your workers like it.
If you do, it’s more than likely you’ll end up keeping it. There are so many benefits and very few drawbacks, which is why SSO has become so widespread in the past couple of decades. The pandemic might be what cements SSO as part of the professional landscape.
