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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Intermediate

Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA)

Authenticating a user or device by proving possession of the private key matching a trusted certificate.

Definition

CBA is used in smart card logon, mutual TLS, 802.1X EAP-TLS, VPNs, and Microsoft Entra certificate-based authentication. It is strong and phishing-resistant when keys are hardware-protected. It requires PKI and revocation checking.

Example

Microsoft Entra CBA lets users sign in with PIV cards without federating to on-premises AD FS.

Exam tip

CBA relies on PKI; revocation checking must work or revoked users may still sign in.

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