In
IT security
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
, a ticket is a number generated by a network
server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...
for a
client
Client(s) or The Client may refer to:
* Client (business)
* Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer
* Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuabl ...
, which can be delivered to itself, or a different server as a means of
authentication
Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicati ...
or proof of
authorization
Authorization or authorisation (see spelling differences) is the function of specifying access rights/privileges to resources, which is related to general information security and computer security, and to access control in particular. More for ...
, and cannot easily be forged. This usage of the word originated with
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
's
Kerberos protocol
Kerberos () is a computer-network authentication protocol that works on the basis of ''tickets'' to allow nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Its designers aimed it primarily ...
in the 1980s. Tickets may either be ''transparent'', meaning they can be recognized without contacting the server that generated them; or ''opaque'', meaning the original server must be contacted to verify that it issued the ticket.
Some
magic cookie
In computing, a magic cookie, or just cookie for short, is a token or short packet of data passed between communicating programs. The cookie is often used to identify a particular event or as "handle, transaction ID, or other token of agreement b ...
s provide the same functionality as a ticket.
Computer network security
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