Glossary of Data Communications Terms

Courtesy Enterprise-Wide Computing, Inc.

Term: authentication
Definition: 1) ensuring that a message is genuine, has arrived exactly as it was sent and came from the stated source; 2) verifying the identity of an individual, such as a person at a remote terminal or the sender of a message. In OSI nomenclature, authentication refers to the certainty that the data received comes from the supposed origin; it is not extended to include the integrity of the data which are being transmitted. See also, data origin authentication and peer-entry authentication. Protection against fraudulent transactions by establishing the validity of messages, stations, individuals or originators.

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Last Modified:
Wednesday, April 22, 1998