How Is The Security Assertion Markup Language Saml Used

Benefits Of Saml Authentication

• Improved User Experience Users only need to sign in one time to access multiple service providers. This allows for a faster authentication process and less expectation of the user to remember multiple login credentials for every application. In the example above, that user could have clicked on any of the other icons in their dashboard and been promptly logged in without ever having to enter more credentials!

• Increased Security SAML provides a single point of authentication, which happens at a secure identity provider. Then, SAML transfers the identity information to the service providers. This form of authentication ensures that credentials are only sent to the IdP directly.

• Loose Coupling of Directories SAML doesn’t require user information to be maintained and synchronized between directories.

• Reduced Costs for Service Providers With SAML, you don’t have to maintain account information across multiple services. The identity provider bears this burden.

What Saml Is And How It Works

SAML is an open standard used for authentication. Based upon the Extensible Markup Language format, web applications use SAML to transfer authentication data between two parties – the identity provider and the service provider .

The technology industry created SAML to simplify the authentication process where users needed to access multiple, independent web applications across domains. Prior to SAML, single sign-on was achievable but relied on cookies that were only viable within the same domain. It achieves this objective by centralizing user authentication with an identity provider. Web applications can then leverage SAML via the identity provider to grant access to their users. This SAML authentication approach means users do not need to remember multiple usernames and passwords. It also benefits service providers as it increases security of their own platform, primarily by avoiding the need to store passwords and not having to address forgotten password issues.

Message Structure And The Soap Binding

In environments where communicating SAML partiesare SOAP-enabled, the SOAP-over-HTTP binding can be used to exchangeSAML request/response protocol messages. Figure 8 shows the structureof a SAML response message being carried within the SOAP body of aSOAP envelope, which itself has an HTTP response wrapper. Note thatSAML itself does not make use of the SOAP header of a SOAP envelopebut it does not prevent SAML-based application environments fromdoing so if needed.

Figure8: Protocol Messages Carried by SOAP Over HTTP

Figure 9 shows an XML document containing anexample SAML attribute query message beingtransported within a SOAP envelope.

Note the following:

• TheSOAP envelope starts at line 2.

• The SAML attributequery starting on line 5 is embedded in a SOAP body element startingon line 4.

• The attribute query contains, fromlines 6 through10, various required and optional XML attributes includingdeclarations of the SAMLV2.0 assertion and protocolnamespaces, and the message ID, .

• The requestspecifies a number of optional elements, from lines 11 through 22,that govern the type of attributes the requester expects back. Thisincludes, for example, the requested attribute and thesubject for which the attribute is sought.

An example XML fragment containing a SAML protocolResponse message being transported in a SOAP message is shown in Figure 10.

Note the following:

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Business Benefits Of Saml

SAML benefits businesses because it makes it easier for people to connect with services they need, particularly those of your organization. Here are some of the most significant advantages organizations get by using SAML:

Verify And Troubleshoot Gateway Errors

To follow the procedures in this section, you need to collect gateway logs.

SSL error

Error symptoms

This issue has multiple symptoms. When you try to add a new data source, you might see an error message like the following:

Unable to connect: We encountered an error while trying to connect to . Details: “We could not register this data source for any gateway instances within this cluster. Please find more details below about specific errors for each gateway instance.”

When you try to create or refresh a report, you might see an error message like the one in the following image:

When you investigate the Mashup*.log, you’ll see the following error message:

A connection was successfully established with the server, but then an error occurred during the login process and the certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted

Resolution

To resolve this SSL error, go to the data source connection and then, in the Validate Server Certificate dropdown list, select No, as shown in the following image:

After you’ve selected this setting, the error message will no longer appear.

Gateway SignXML error

The gateway SignXML error can be the result of incorrect SapHanaSAMLCertThumbprint settings, or it can be an issue with the HANA server. Entries in the gateway logs help identify where the issue resides, and how to resolve it.

Error symptoms

Resolution

After you’ve changed the configuration file, you need to restart the gateway service for the change to take effect.

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What Is Saml Used For

Organizations use SAML both for business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications. It is used to share user credentials across one or more networked systems. The SAML framework is designed to accomplish two things:

SAML is most often used to implement SSO authentication systems that enable end users to log in to their networks once and be authorized to access multiple resources on that network. For example, SSO implemented with Microsoft Active Directory can be integrated with SAML 2.0 authentication requests.

Authentication is the process of determining whether an entity is what it claims to be. It is required before authorization, which is the process of determining whether the authenticated identity has permission to use a resource.

SAML authentication depends on verifying user credentials, which, at a minimum, include user identity and password. SAML can also enable support for multifactor authentication.

Types Of Saml Solutions And Tools

In general, all Identity and Access Management solutions are going to use SAML. Whether youre looking for a Single Sign-On Solution , Multi-Factor Authentication Solution , Managed Security Operations Center , or Managed Security Services Provider , theyre all going to be using SAML somewhere along the way. Here are a few of the service providers we frequently implement for clients:

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Exposing Saml Configuration In Sp

As discussed before, the SP needs the IdP configuration to complete the SAML setup. While many ISVs choose to do this through support and email, the better way to do this is by exposing a self-service administrator page for your customer’s IT administrator to enable SAML. SAML supports metadata on both the IdP and SP side. One way to configure the IdP/SP relationship on the SP side is to build the ability to receive an IdP metadata file and the ability to generate an SP metadata file for consumption by the IdP. This is the preferred method.

However, some ISVs choose to allow configuration of several key SAML parameters directly rather than through a metadata file. Typical parameters would include the IdP redirect URL , IssuerID, IdP Logout URL. The SP must also allow the IdP public certificate to be uploaded or saved.

Using a metadata file is preferred because it can handle any future additions/enhancements in your SAML support without making UI changes that would otherwise be required if you expose specific SAML configuration parameters in your UI.

Service Provider Use Cases

Many service providers use SAML to offer their customers Internet SSO. Examples of common service provider use cases include:

• Inbound connections from customers wishing to enable Internet SSO for their users who require access to the service providers applications. In this scenario, the customer acts as the IdP.
• Inbound Internet SSO connections from a hosted SAML provider, such as Google Apps
• Outbound connections to other service providers that allow users to gain access to third-party services without supplying additional login credentials. These types of connections require the secure sharing of user identity data via SAML.

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How Does Oauth Compare To Saml

OAuth and SAML are both protocols we use for allowing access. However, the primary difference between the two is that we use SAML for authentication and OAuth for authorization.

If we revisit the airline analogy, the passenger’s ID is the SAML assertion, and the ticket the OAuth token. The airline uses the ID to verify the passengers identity before allowing them to board the aircraft. However, once the passengers are on the plane, the flight attendants use the ticket to confirm the passengers’ status and entitlement. For example, they may have a first-class ticket giving them access to seats and amenities not accessible by passengers in economy.

Supported Data Sources For Saml

Microsoft currently supports SAP HANA with SAML. For more information about setting up and configuring single sign-on for SAP HANA by using SAML, see SAML SSO for BI Platform to HANA.

We support additional data sources with Kerberos .

For SAP HANA, we recommend that you enable encryption before you establish a SAML SSO connection. To enable encryption, configure the HANA server to accept encrypted connections, and then configure the gateway to use encryption to communicate with your HANA server. Because the HANA ODBC driver doesn’t encrypt SAML assertions by default, the signed SAML assertion is sent from the gateway to the HANA server in the clear and is vulnerable to interception and reuse by third parties.

Important

Because SAP no longer supports OpenSSL, Microsoft has also discontinued its support. Your existing connections continue to work but you can no longer create new connections. Use SAP Cryptographic Library , or sapcrypto, instead.

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Saml Authentication With Strongdm

StrongDM provides a SAML server that enables organizations to connect individual users or services to the resources they require, regardless of their location. With our People-First Access Platform, enterprises get to control who can gain access to their infrastructure and specify exactly how much access each user may have.

StrongDM provides the ability to integrate with identity providers to centralize infrastructure management and automate user and group provisioning with a single source of truth. You have the option to store credentials securely on our platform or use your third-party secrets manager. With StrongDM, you can designate access controls based on roles or user attributes. And onboarding and offboarding employees is easyAll it takes is a few clicks to grant or revoke access to resources such as databases, servers, clusters, web applications, and clouds.

Implementing SAML can be challenging because XML is so complex. It is easy to overlook arcane details, unwittingly leaving an application vulnerable to attacks that could compromise security or user privacy. By partnering with StrongDM, enterprises can offer their employees a customized SSO experience that is both seamless and secure. Each user needs to enter only one set of login credentials to gain access to multiple applications, all of which are conveniently displayed on their personal dashboard.

What Is Saml And What Is It Used For

The Security Assertion Markup Language is an open standard that allows security credentials to be shared by multiple computers across a network. It describes a framework that allows one computer to perform some security functions on behalf of one or more other computers.

Strictly speaking, SAML refers to the XML variant language used to encode all this information, but the term can also cover various protocol messages and profiles that make up part of the standard. Because SAML is an open standard, it can coordinate security measure for different applications and systems from different vendors. As a result, many security vendors use SAML as the basis for their commercial offerings to ensure interoperability.

SAML 2.0 was introduced in 2005 and remains the current version of the standard. The previous version, 1.1, is now largely deprecated.

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Uniquely Identifying Users In Saml

When you create access policies in IAM, it’s often useful to be able to specify permissions based on the identity of users. For example, for users who have been federated using SAML, an application might want to keep information in Amazon S3 using a structure like this:

myBucket/app1/user1myBucket/app1/user2myBucket/app1/user3

You can create the bucket and folder through the Amazon S3 console or the AWS CLI, since those are static values. However, the user-specific folders have to be created at run time using code, since the value that identifies the user isn’t known until the first time the user signs in through the federation process.

To write policies that reference user-specific details as part of a resource name, the user identity has to be available in SAML keys that can be used in policy conditions. The following keys are available for SAML 2.0based federation for use in IAM policies. You can use the values returned by the following keys to create unique user identifiers for resources like Amazon S3 folders.

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Run A Power Bi Report

Now you can use the Manage Gateway page in Power BI to configure the SAP HANA data source. Under Advanced Settings, enable SSO via SAML. By doing so, you can publish reports and datasets binding to that data source.

Note

SSO uses Windows Authentication so make sure the windows account can access the gateway machine. If not sure, make sure to add NT-AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users to the local machine ââ¬ÅUsersââ¬ï¿½ group.

What Is Saml And How Does It Work

Contents

Security Assertion Markup Language is an open standard that allows identity providers to pass authorization credentials to service providers . What that jargon means is that you can use one set of credentials to log into many different websites. Its much simpler to manage one login per user than it is to manage separate logins to email, customer relationship management software, Active Directory, etc.

SAML transactions use Extensible Markup Language for standardized communications between the identity provider and service providers. SAML is the link between the authentication of a users identity and the authorization to use a service.

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Saml Advantages For Businesses

SAML provides a variety of business benefits, including

• Improved user experiences SAML authentication increases user satisfaction by eliminating password fatigue and allowing users to access all their applications in a consistent manner, using Single Sign-On . It improves employee productivity and accelerates the adoption of cloud-based applications and services by giving users fast, simple, and convenient access to all the online resources they need to do their jobs.
• Risk reduction SAML strengthens security by centralizing authentication functions and reducing attack surfaces, and by eliminating risky password management practices like using weak passwords or writing passwords down on paper. MFA functionality provides additional security by requiring a user to present multiple forms of evidence to gain access to an application or service.

• Simplified operations SAML helps businesses eliminate administrative cost and complexity and accelerate time-to-value by delegating identity and access management functionality to a trusted identity provider. Using a third-party identity provider frees up internal IT resources to focus on core business tasks.

• Broad support SAML helps businesses increase choice and avoid multi-vendor interoperability issues. SAML is a widely adopted standard, so businesses can choose from a variety of SAML-compliant identity providers and service providers.

An Identity Management Knowledge Gap

When it comes to identity and access management , many organizations are aware of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol and Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service protocols. However, information security solutions and network-based authentication protocols like Security Assertion Markup Language can still be confusing.As more companies start using cloud-based services, they will need to understand SAML to ensure the most efficient and secure processes.

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Saml And Oauth Use Cases

SAML is primarily used to enable web browser single sign-on . The user experience objective for SSO is to allow a user to authenticate once and gain access to separately secured systems without resubmitting credentials. The security objective is to ensure the authentication requirements are met at each security perimeter.

• Manage identities in the cloud and on-premises. Enable a unified approach to identity and access management with cloud-based workflows, simplified user provisioning, and user self-service. Open standards integration reduces overhead and maintenance providing simplified user provisioning and management in the cloud and on premises
• Streamline identity tasks. Reduces the need for repetitive user, role, and group changes across multiple environments. This provides an identity bridge that synchronizes identity entitlements across on-premises and cloud services
• Zero-trust strategy. Enforce access policies using cloud-based service for single sign-on , strong password enforcement, and multifactor authentication . With adaptive authentication, risk is reduced by increasing login requirements when user access is deemed high-risk based on device, location, or activity
• Manage consumer digital access. Enrich consumer access experience with self-service user interfaces and brand-customizable login screens. The flexible customer access enablement helps integrate third-party services and custom applications using REST APIs and standards-based integration