FAQ: Why Open ID Connect?

OpenID Connect was published in 2014. The standard offers the best options in usability, simplicity, and security and considered all learnings from other standards like SAML and OpenID 1.0 and 2.0. The major benefits are: 

• Easy consumption: The identity tokens are received as JSON Web Token (JWT), which are considered elegant and portable with a great support for signature and encryption algorithms. 

• Based on the OAuth 2.0 protocol: The OAuth 2.0 flow is used to obtain the token, which supports web applications and also native or mobile apps. By adopting OAuth 2.0 there is one protocol used for authentication and authorization (getting access tokens).

• Simple to integrate: The integration with apps is simple and straight-forward, while still offering features and security options required with enterprise integrations.