Multi-Factor Authentication on Custom Apps: The Top 17 SDKs and Tutorials from Okta

Sr. Technical Product Marketing Manager

August 8, 2018

TL;DR: Building login and multi-factor authentication (MFA) for custom apps can be challenging, time-consuming, and risky. This post provides the top tutorials and SDKs that can be used to quickly leverage login and MFA provided by Okta. Your developers can streamline development and focus on building the best user experience, while you control the application identities and access management—all from a single location.

Building authentication: challenging, time-consuming, and risky

If you’re developing an app with a private area, you need authentication. But the moment a login is introduced, security and privacy concerns come into play.

Securing your app with a single password is simply not good enough—81% of data breaches are caused by weak or hacked credentials. To prevent the reputational harm and financial loss a data breach could have on your organization, it’s crucial to bolster security through multi-factor authentication (MFA). In some instances, your application may be required to implement MFA due to regulatory or compliance requirements such as PCI-DSS. But even if your app doesn’t need MFA for compliance, it still boosts user privacy and significantly reduces the likelihood of a data breach.

If the thought of building MFA in addition to authentication fills you with dread, the good news is that modern identity solutions exist that can do almost all of the work for you. You don’t need to write code from scratch to implement MFA—Okta has Software Development Kits (SDKs) that can help you easily incorporate this additional layer of security to your solution.

The simple solution

Building an identity service for your application is no small feat, and it’s even more ambitious to make MFA work. Developers face multiple challenges when building an MFA solution—from developing security features and testing the solution, to keeping a siloed database, syncing user accounts, and supporting its production. This all demands time and resources that could be spent on core functionality.

Consuming an identity service with MFA is far better than building one. Using a production-ready service shortens the development timeframe, so you can get your app to market faster, while delivering a secure product. By leveraging an MFA service from an organization that specializes in security, you can be confident that it’s been thoroughly tested by both the identity provider, and its subscribers. The service will also receive regular security updates and new features. So the authentication work is reduced, not only during the development phase, but also once the app is live.

Why choose Okta for MFA?

The Okta Identity Cloud delivers a secure, cloud-based identity service that works as a platform, so it’s as easy as turning it on, and you’re ready to go. It provides a feature-packed API interface that gives you the ability to consume identity services with several built-in features, including Single Sign-On (SSO), provisioning, and Adaptive Multi-factor Authentication (AMFA). Okta’s Adaptive MFA goes one step further than traditional solutions to protect users’ identities. It combines multiple authentication factors with context-aware analyses of location, device, network, and risk signal information to keep your organization’s data secure.

With Okta, you can manage your application security and integrations from a single administrative console with no code refactoring required, making post-deployment maintenance much simpler for security and IT administrators. You can also manage all users—employees, partners, contractors, and customers—in one place, and see exactly who has access to what. When it comes to configuring your app’s MFA, security administrators can easily define the factors and policies they want to use. These include SMS, voice, email or software one-time pins (OTPs), the Okta Verify app, physical and U2F tokens, and biometrics.

Okta uses the same design patterns for all platforms and the best standards for API securitys—namely, OAuth, OpenID Connect, and REST. Best of all for developers, Okta provides SDKs for the most popular applications, complete with tutorials and code samples for you to use. If you want to see just how easy it is to secure your app with Okta, check out our list of the 17 top guides and tutorials to get you started.

Guides to get you started

Regardless of the language you use, Okta can take the challenge of authentication off your hands. With Okta, you can manage identity, add users, and configure the login page to suit your needs. You even get access to reports that provide useful insights.

To learn more, check out Okta’s dedicated developer site, or visit our API Access Management product page.

Frederico Hakamine

Sr. Technical Product Marketing Manager

Frederico is a jack of all trades and master of none. He has been designing, developing, customizing, and breaking systems for more than 10 years in the field. Frederico spends his time at Okta developing code and promoting the Okta Platform and APIs. In his spare time, he cracks some code for his wife's startup and works on silly projects like his own beer and music.

Multi-Factor Authentication on Custom Apps: The Top 17 SDKs and Tutorials from Okta

Building authentication: challenging, time-consuming, and risky

The simple solution

Why choose Okta for MFA?

Guides to get you started

Tutorials

Web app SDKs

Mobile app SDKs

Desktop apps

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