What is CAS?

CAS, which stands for Central Authentication System, is both an authentication mechanism and an enterprise single sign on server. Applications that utilize CAS all participate in the same single sign on session, meaning that once a user successfully authenticates with CAS, he or she won’t be prompted again for the duration of the session. In addition, CAS allows an application to see who authenticated, but protects the user’s password from individual applications, allowing for a much more secure computing environment.

Why use CAS?

There are numerous benefits to delegating authentication for your application to CAS:

• Simplified development as their are numerous CAS client libraries availability.
• Increased security as client applications never see the password. A compromised client does not compromise the other applications.
• Independence from the authentication mechanism. You won’t need to care if certificates, passwords, Safeword, etc. are used to authenticate.
• Enhanced user experience as users are provided with a unified view of authentication.
• Web service interface for application-to-application authentication.
• Consistent and proper handling of credentials is ensured.

CAS @ Rutgers

• FAQ
• Terms of Service
• How does CAS work?
• Local Implementation
• Applications using CAS
• Requesting Access…
• SSO Security Guidelines

Help!

• Mailing Lists

Documentation

• Official Apereo Central Authentication Home Page [external link]
• CAS Protocol [external link]
• CAS Clients Listing @ Apereo [external link]

Examples

• Spring Security Example
• Apereo CAS Client for Java