Why we switched from JWT to OAuth 2.0

Choosing the best authentication technique for your API may be a difficult issue. But, after considerable study, we have took the audacious decision to transition from JWT to OAuth 2.0. This choice was influenced by a number of considerations, including greater security and flexibility.

There are several reasons why you should consider moving from JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to OAuth 2.0:

1. OAuth 2.0 allows for more secure user authentication and permission. It employs a token-based approach that enables more granular access control as well as the ability to cancel access at any moment.
2. Because OAuth 2.0 is a widely established industry standard, it is supported by a wide range of platforms and services. This enables integration with other systems easy and assures compatibility with future upgrades.
3. Delegating access to third-party apps is possible using OAuth 2.0. This means that users may grant access to their data and resources to other apps without providing their login credentials.
4. OAuth 2.0 also allows users to be authenticated without having to share their password with the client application.

The complexity of implementing the OAuth 2.0 protocol was the biggest barrier we faced in switching from JWT to OAuth 2.0. Since it includes numerous players, such as the resource owner, the resource server, the authorization server, and the client application, OAuth 2.0 can be difficult to implement. Each of these players has distinct tasks and responsibilities, and they must interact in a precise way to maintain the protocol’s secure and proper operation.

Moreover, OAuth 2.0 supports a variety of grant kinds, including authorization code, implicit, resource owner password credentials, client credentials, and refresh token, each with their own unique procedure and constraints. This can make determining which grant type is best suited to a particular circumstance and implementing the right grant flow difficult.

OAuth 2.0 also necessitates the implementation and use of secure means for storing and delivering tokens and other sensitive data. These can involve token encryption, signature, and safe storage, which might complicate the implementation process.

Overall, while OAuth 2.0 provides a more secure and versatile method of handling user authentication and authorisation, it is more difficult to deploy than competing standards such as JWT.
By employing the services of SSOfy, we were able to overcome the difficulties of adopting OAuth 2.0. ssofy.com delivers a secure and compliant Single Sign-On (SSO) solution that complies to OAuth2 standards. Sensitive user data and credentials are never saved inside when using this authentication server, but are instead securely requested from the resource server as needed. This assures that your servers are available when engaging with our platform and our users. Their system produces and manages access tokens, which can be readily validated on our backend via API calls or middleware. These tokens can also be cached until a token deletion event is received via webhook, giving your users with an extra degree of protection.
Another key issue was allowing users to logout from their current session or all devices used to sign in earlier, which SSOfy remedied. SSOfy provides a solution to the widespread issue of logging users out of their current session or from all devices used to sign in. Their solution enables simple logout management, allowing users to stop their session on a single device or all devices previously used for sign in.

Conclusion
The transition from JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to OAuth 2.0 authentication was vital for our business, but it would have been a difficult undertaking without the assistance of ssofy.com’s secure and effective Single Sign-On solution. We were able to effortlessly convert to OAuth 2.0 and increase the security of our system thanks to their guidance.