WebAuth is an authentication system for web pages and web applications. The
first time a user attempts to access a web page protected by WebAuth, they
will be sent to a central login server (weblogin.stanford.edu at Stanford)
and prompted to authenticate. Normally, they will be asked for a username
and password, although other authentication methods are possible. Once the
user has logged in, the weblogin server will send their encrypted identity
back to the original web page they were trying to access. Their identity
will also be stored in a cookie set by the weblogin server and they will
not need to authenticate again until their credentials expire, even if
they visit multiple protected web sites.

WebAuth works with any browser that supports cookies, requires no agents
or other software installed on the client web browser systems, and works
with an existing Kerberos v5 authentication realm. It can also be used as
the SSO provider for a Shibboleth IdP and supports SPNEGO authentication
as well as username/password over TLS/SSL. See the page on WebAuth features
for more major features and a brief comparison with other web
authentication systems.
