Decided

For the web application we need to determine the authentication strategy for user authentication and authorization. We explored several alternative options before deciding on Auth0.

Manual Login Implementation with Password Hashing: This option involves implementing a custom authentication system where user passwords would be securely hashed and stored in a database. While this approach would provide full control over the authentication process, it would require significant development effort and expertise in security practices to ensure proper password hashing and storing.

Exploring Other Third-Party Identity Providers: We considered alternative OAuth2/OpenID Connect providers such as Okta, Firebase Authentication, and AWS Cognito. While these services offer similar authentication and authorization capabilities, we found that Auth0 provided a more comprehensive feature set, better documentation, and easier integration with our existing technology stack.

Consideration of Identity Providers Built into Cloud Platforms: Another option was to leverage identity and access management services offered by cloud platforms like AWS Cognito, Google Identity Platform, or Azure Active Directory. However, we determined that these services might introduce vendor lock-in and compatibility issues with our current infrastructure.

After evaluating these alternative options, we decided to use Auth0 as the authentication strategy for several reasons:

• Comprehensive Features: Auth0 offers a wide range of authentication and authorization features, including user management, social login integration, multi-factor authentication, and centralized identity management, which align well with our project requirements.
• Ease of Integration: Auth0 provides SDKs, libraries, and documentation for easy integration with various programming languages, frameworks, and platforms, streamlining the development process and reducing implementation effort.
• Security and Compliance: Auth0 implements industry-standard security measures, compliance certifications, and best practices to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of user data, which is crucial for maintaining user trust and regulatory compliance.
• Scalability: Auth0 is designed to handle high volumes of authentication requests, making it suitable for projects with growing user base and increasing authentication demands. Its scalability ensures that our authentication system can accommodate future growth and user activity without performance degradation.

Overall, Auth0 emerged as the preferred authentication solution for the project due to its comprehensive features, ease of integration, security, and scalability, making it the best fit for our project requirements.