Salesforce Security Guide

Salesforce Security Guide
Salesforce Security Basics
Authenticate Users
Elements of User Authentication
Manage User Passwords
Cookies
Single Sign-On
My Domain
Multi-Factor Authentication
Network-Based Security
Device Activation
Session Security
Custom Login Flows
Single Sign-On
Desktop Client Access
Configure User Authentication
Connected Apps
Give Users Access to Data
Share Objects and Fields
Strengthen Your Data's Security with Shield Platform Encryption
Monitoring Your Organization’s Security
Real-Time Event Monitoring
Security Guidelines for Apex and Visualforce Development
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Single Sign-On

Salesforce has its own system of user authentication, but some companies prefer to use an existing single sign-on capability to simplify and standardize their user authentication.

You have two options to implement single sign-on—federated authentication using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) or delegated authentication.

Identity Providers

An identity provider is a trusted provider that lets you use single sign-on (SSO) to access other websites. A service provider is a website that hosts apps. You can enable Salesforce as an identity provider and define one or more service providers. Your users can then access other apps directly from Salesforce using SSO. SSO is a great help to your users—instead of having to remember many passwords, they only have to remember one.

For more information, see “Identity Providers and Service Providers” in Salesforce Help.