Cross platform authentication using ASP.NET Web API

Solution 1:

I think tokens would be a solid way to go. Forms authentication is based on cookies for the web. Not the most idea situation for all non browser clients though.

What I'd suggest is creating a custom AuthorizationFilterAttribute and overriding the OnAuthorization method. In that method, you could check for the existence of a token that you've issued to the client after they've supplied valid credentials. You can use this attribute on any method or controller you want validated. Here's a sample you might reference

 public class AuthorizeTokenAttribute : AuthorizationFilterAttribute 
{      
    public override void OnAuthorization(HttpActionContext actionContext)
    {
        if (actionContext != null)
        {                
                if (!AuthorizeRequest(actionContext.ControllerContext.Request))
                {
                    actionContext.Response = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized) { RequestMessage = actionContext.ControllerContext.Request }; 
                }
                return;
        }
    }

    private bool AuthorizeRequest(System.Net.Http.HttpRequestMessage request)
    {
        bool authorized = false;
        if (request.Headers.Contains(Constants.TOKEN_HEADER))
        {               
            var tokenValue = request.Headers.GetValues("TOKEN_HEADER");
            if (tokenValue.Count() == 1) {
                var value = tokenValue.FirstOrDefault();               
               //Token validation logic here
               //set authorized variable accordingly
            }                
        }
        return authorized;
    } }

TOKEN_HEADER is just a string representing an HTTP header that the client should pass back for authenticated requests.

So let's walk through it

1. Client requests secure data
2. Client is not authorized, return a response with an Unauthorized status code
3. Client sends credentials to authenticate, which should be secured via HTTPS
4. Once validated, client receives a token via an HTTP header, or whatever works for you
5. Client tries requesting secure data again, this time attached the token to the request
6. The AuthorizeTokenAttribute will validate the token and allow the action to execute.

Also, check this post by John Petersen. Making your ASP.NET Web API’s secure

Solution 2:

There are lots of ways to authenticate users for a REST service. Using tokens is possible but just using Basic Authentication is even simpler and about as standard and cross platform as you can go.

Don't confuse authorization with authentication. The [Authorize] attribute is all about authorization but only after a user has been authenticated using some other mechanism. Authorization is completely useless without doing proper authentication first.

The best resource to check is Dominick Baier who is an expert on the subject.

Solution 3:

I use a very simple approach:

1. define an access profile with its unique accessId and accessKey (e.g. MD5 hashed GUID value)
2. store such access profile in database
3. every request (GET/POST/etc.) must supply accessId, queryHash (MD5 hash value represents the query) and signature (MD5 hash value of queryHash + accessKey). Of course the client needs keep the accessKey in a secure place!!!
4. server gets the request will check the accessId and the signature using the same calculation algorithm to reject or grant the access (authenticate)
5. further authorization can be done on request type basis utilizing the access profile

the service with this approach using the new ASP.NET MVC web API can serve whatever type of client: browser/javascript and native(desktop or mobile) etc.