Hi,

WSO2 Identity Server is currently capable of allowing a pre-configured
default authentication sequence with multi step or multi option
authentication, which can be globally applied for any of the service
provider.

As per the current implementation of IS, there is a file based SP which is
considered as the default SP of IS
(<IS_HOME>/repository/conf/identity/service-providers/default.xml). After
IS 5.0.0, in order to link the protocol specific applications to service
provider concept, we have introduced this default file based SP. So that,
for an inbound request, if there is no SP configurations can be found, the
default SP of IS will be considered. For a SP which is configured with
default authentication type as follows, we use local and outbound
authentication configuration of the default SP of IS.



There are several drawbacks in current approach considering following
business use cases.

   1. Capability to have an organizational wise default authentication
   sequence which should be  applicable for all the applications in an
   organization.
   2. In the default authentication, apart from multi steps or multi
   options, have secure and flexible form of authentication where we need to
   validate multiple factors to determine the authenticity of a login attempt,
   before granting access to a resource.
   3. Furthermore, have support to do modifications to the default
   authentication sequence in a user friendly manner, rather using file based
   approach.


In consideration of above use cases, the suggested approach is to include
following improvements to the current implementation.

*Tenant specific default authentication sequence*

   - Local and outbound authentication configuration in default file based
   SP will be considered as the global default authentication sequence.
   - Provide support to have tenant wise default authentication sequences
   rather only a global sequence. So that, the global default authentication
   sequence can be modified and use tenant wise.
   - All the Service providers will be supporting new tenant specific
   default authentication chain. If default authentication type is selected
   for a SP, use the tenant specific default authentication configuration if
   exists, or use the global authentication configuration.

*Adaptive authentication support for default authentication sequence*

   - Provide capability to include adaptive authentication scripts in the
   default authentication chain.

*Update default authentication sequence from UI*

   - Rather managing file based default authentication configuration,
   include capability to do modifications from management console.
   - Include capability to update the default authentication configuration
   from resident IDP UI.
   - The configurations will be initially loaded to UI, from file based
   default SP and after a modification, those will be stored as resident IDP
   meta data (i.e. IDP_METADATA table).
   - Configuring adaptive authentication scripts from UI will be more user
   friendly, since we can refer adaptive authentication templates as well.


Really appreciate your suggestions and comments on this approach.

Thanks and Regards
-- 
Indunil Upeksha Rathnayake
Senior Software Engineer | WSO2 Inc
Email    [email protected]
Mobile   0772182255
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