COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MODERN AUTHENTICATION AND AUTHORIZATION PROTOCOLS FOR WEB APPLICATIONS

Topicality. In the context of rapid digital transformation, secure access control to information resources has become critically important. Authentication and authorization mechanisms form the basis of information security, ensuring user identity verification and assigning appropriate access rights. The expansion of web applications, cloud services, and distributed systems requires the implementation of flexible and attack-resistant protocols. The subject of study in this article is a set of widely used authentication and authorization protocols, including Basic Authentication, OAuth 1.0, OAuth 2.0, Single Sign-On (SSO), and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). The purpose of the article is to compare these technologies in terms of security, scalability, integration complexity, and suitability for various IT environments. The research is based on the analysis of official standards (RFCs, NIST guidelines, OASIS specifications) and industry practices. The results demonstrate that traditional approaches, such as Basic Auth and OAuth 1.0, are becoming obsolete due to limited security, while OAuth 2.0 combined with SSO provides a balance between user convenience and security. The introduction of MFA significantly enhances protection against account compromise but increases implementation complexity. Conclusion. No single protocol is a universal solution; the highest security level is achieved through a combination of modern authorization protocols, multi-factor authentication, token encryption, and Zero Trust principles. These findings can be applied by developers, system architects, and cybersecurity specialists to design and implement robust authentication and authorization systems capable of addressing current and emerging digital security challenges.