I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-http-authentication-00.txt

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This draft is a work item of the HyperText Transfer Protocol Working Group 
of the IETF.

	Title		: HTTP Authentication: Basic and Digest Access 
                          Authentication
	Author(s)	: J. Franks, A. Luotonen, P. Leach, J. Hostetler,
                          P. Hallam-Baker, E. Sink, L. Stewart
	Filename	: draft-ietf-http-authentication-00.txt
	Pages		: 27
	Date		: 26-Nov-97
	
       ''HTTP/1.0'' includes the specification for a Basic Access Authentication
       scheme. This scheme is not considered to be a secure method of user
       authentication (unless used in conjunction with  some external secure
       system such as SSL [5]), as the user name and password are passed over
       the network as clear text.
 
       This document also provides the specification for HTTP's authentication
       framework, the original Basic authentication scheme and a scheme based
       on cryptographic hashes, referred to as ''Digest Access Authentication''.
       It is therefore intended to also serve as a replacement for RFC 2069.[6]
 
       Like Basic, Digest access authentication verifies that both parties to a
       communication know a shared secret (a password); unlike Basic, this
       verification can be done without sending the password in the clear,
       which is Basic's biggest weakness. As with most other authentication
       protocols, the greatest sources of risks are usually found not in the
       core protocol itself but in policies and procedures surrounding its use.

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