JAAS, Securing J2EE Applications: Securing Web Components - JAAS: What is it?

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Traditionally the security provided by Java (I will be using the term Java when referring to J2SE) provided code based security. In code based security, the signature of the code along with the origin of the code is verified. The privileges of the user running the code are never checked. Thus access control is never enforced. To overcome this limitation, the JAAS package was introduced. In the current version, JAAS is one of the core modules of the Java Development Kit. JAAS has two components: an authentication component, and an authorization component. 

The authentication component provides services to verify the credentials of the user who is trying to execute the code. The authorization component supplements the existing code security features by restricting the code from performing sensitive system tasks. This is done by enforcing the access control based on the authentication. The authorization module is able to provide this service to any type of code whether it is being executed from within an application, applet and servlet or for that matter EJB. Apart from the above, JAAS does its authentication and authorization in a pluggable fashion. These two features of JAAS makes it a "lucrative proposition" in its application of securing J2EE applications.

Why use JAAS?

In the context of J2EE, the answer to the above query lies in the following facts:

• As already described, JAAS compliments the security features provided by Java.
  
  
• It fits "hand-in-glove" with J2EE security. The integration of JAAS with J2EE is really very easy.
  
  
• The authentication done by JAAS follows Pluggable Authentication Module design approach. This approach decouples Java from the underlying authentication technique. Variations in authentication techniques can be achieved without rewriting the code.
  
  
• The pluggable nature of JAAS also ensures vendor neutrality.

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Comments On: JAAS, Securing J2EE Applications: Securing Web Components

· HiThank you for reading. Hope it was helpful. Please comment.A.P.Rajshekhar    · Very well structured and helpful for a newbie like me. The "almost" is because I...    · found it very helpful, it only lacks references to specific server aplication...    · Thhanks for your comments. Since here the context is Web Applicatin, so there is no...    · Hi thanks for that article, it helped clear a lot of confusion i was having about...    · Hi liked the explanation of JAASLoginFilter. But what i am not able to understand...    · put the rigth code or dont put anything, that snippets of code was writed with your...    · The content was easy to understand. I habe 1 question in this. I want my application...   >>> Post your comment now!