OAuth: ECAR-WG Technology Spotlight

Published:: Friday, February 20, 2015
: Briefs, Case Studies, Papers, Reports

Author(s) and Contributors:: Author(s): Karen Wetzel

Source(s) and Collection(s):: Collection(s): EDUCAUSE Working Group Research Bulletins

ParentTopics:: Access Control Data Security Federated Identity Management Identity and Access Management Mobile Computing

Abstract

OAuth is a specification that allows a third-party site to obtain information about a user from a second site without requiring the user to provide access credentials to the third party. OAuth, which is one approach to authorization in the federated identity space, is geared toward consumer developers who want to interact with users’ protected data or service-provider developers who support users and who want to share data from the service in web, mobile, and other apps and widgets.

This bulletin is one of a series of papers from ECAR working groups designed to help institutional leaders learn about and understand the implications of emerging technologies in higher education. These technologies have been identified as the “Top 10 Confusing Technologies” in the ECAR report Higher Education’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2015. Other papers and related resources are available at the research hub for Higher Education’s Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2015.

Citation for this Work: Wetzel, Karen. OAuth: ECAR-WG Technology Spotlight. Research bulletin. Louisville, CO: ECAR, February 20, 2015. Available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

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