How to Enable Digest Authentication for 3rd Party Applications

In Nx Witness version 5.0, we changed the default authentication method from Digest Authentication to Bearer authentication. 

Although it is not recommended for general use, Digest Authentication could be used with 3rd party applications, like various video players for embedded video and the like, that might not be capable of working with Bearer authentication.

What is Bearer Authentication?

Bearer authentication is an authentication scheme for HTTP communication that uses security tokens called bearer tokens. The name “Bearer authentication” can be understood as “give access to the bearer of this token.” The bearer token is an encrypted string generated by the server in response to a login authentication request.

What is Digest Authentication?

Digest Authentication is an authentication scheme for HTTP communication that uses MD5 hashing to ensure that no usernames, passwords, HTTP methods, or requested URLs are sent to the server in plaintext. This is a more secure method than Basic Authentication, which sends the username and password to the server in plaintext. 

Digest Authentication is a more complex and secure form of authentication because, for every API call, the client must make a new MD5 hash of the username, realm, and password.

How to use Digest Authentication

A dedicated user to which the applicable user rights and resources can be assigned to use digest authentication with 3rd party applications. Take the following steps for each user account you would like to create/modify for this purpose from Nx Witness version 5.0 onward: 

1. Do one of the following:
     • Right-click on an existing Local User and select User Settings.
     • Right-click Users and select New User.
2. If creating a new user, select Local and enter the desired information.
3. Click on the three vertical dots and select Allow digest authentication for this user.
4. Click OK.
   
   

Questions

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