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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Intermediate

Service Provider (SP)

Application that relies on an identity provider's assertion to grant users access; called a relying party in OIDC.

Definition

The SP trusts assertions or tokens from the IdP, validates their signatures, and maps attributes to local permissions. Flows can be SP-initiated, where the user starts at the application, or IdP-initiated. SPs must validate audience, expiration, and signature to prevent token misuse.

Example

Salesforce acts as the SP, redirecting users to Entra ID and accepting the returned SAML assertion.

Exam tip

In OAuth/OIDC terminology the SP is the relying party or client.

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