Secure Web Authentication (SWA) is a technology used by Okta that provides Single Sign-On (SSO) functionality to external web applications that do not support federated protocols like Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML), Web Services Federation (WS-Fed), or OpenID Connect (OIDC). This article provides an overview of how SWA app integrations work and how admins can configure the sign-in options for SWA-enabled apps.
- Okta Classic Engine
- Okta Identity Engine (OIE)
- Secure Web Authentication (SWA)
- Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)
How does Okta Secure Web Authentication work?
The following video demonstrates how to create and use a custom SWA application.
Review the following details to understand and configure SWA application integrations:
- Administrators browse the Okta Integration Network (OIN) catalog and filter the search for application integrations with SWA functionality.
- When an administrator adds the integration to an organization and assigns it to an end user, the SWA-enabled application integration appears as a new icon on the End-User Dashboard.
- Administrators configure the sign-in options for the SWA application integration to match the Okta credentials of the user.
- After setting the credentials, end users authenticate with Okta to SSO directly into the application. If the sign-in request fails, the user must verify the credentials for the external application and try again.
- When the user signs in to the application integration from the dashboard, Okta populates the username and password and securely posts the credentials over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to the sign-in page of the application. The external application then automatically signs the user in.
- SWA application integrations provide a secure way for end users to access external web applications that lack support for federated protocols, while providing SSO through Okta.
NOTE: Depending on the service provider, not all websites and applications are compatible with a template SWA application. Always verify compatibility before use.
Administrators create custom SWA applications using the Application Integration Wizard (AIW) or a Template Plugin application. For more details, review Create SWA app integrations or How to Create a Custom SWA Template Plugin App.
