Single Sign-On Deep Dive: What SSO Really Is, Why Companies Depend on It, and How UIID Rethinks Identity

A long read for security leads, IT teams, developers and founders who want to understand SSO properly. At the end, a first look at what is coming in UIID v2.14.

LINKSPREED ssouiididentity

A long read for security leads, IT teams, developers and founders who want to understand SSO properly. At the end, a first look at what is coming in UIID v2.14.

Introduction: The login problem nobody fixed

Every company has a login problem, even if nobody calls it that.

A typical employee works with a long list of tools: email, calendar, chat, video calls, a document system, a ticket system, an HR portal, expense software, a customer database, a code repository and several tools that only one team uses. Each tool has its own door. Each door asks for a password, and often for a second proof too.

This creates a quiet mess behind the scenes:

People reuse passwords because they cannot remember fifty different ones. IT teams create and delete accounts by hand, tool by tool. Former employees keep access to forgotten systems for months. Support teams spend a surprising amount of time on “I forgot my password.” Nobody has a clear picture of who can access what.

Single Sign-On, or SSO, was created to clean this up. It is now one of the most common building blocks of company IT. It is also often misunderstood. Some people think it is just a convenience feature. Others think it solves all security problems. Neither is true.

This article covers:

  • What SSO is, in plain language
  • How SSO works technically, without too much jargon
  • Why SSO matters for companies, in detail
  • Where classic SSO falls short
  • How passkeys and device-bound identity change the picture
  • What UIID from LINKSPREED is and how it approaches identity
  • How UIID relates to SSO today
  • A first teaser for SSO in UIID v2.14

Let us start from the beginning.

Part 1: What is Single Sign-On? The simple definition

Single Sign-On means that a person logs in once and can then use multiple applications without logging in again for each one.

The key idea is trust. Instead of every application checking your password itself, applications trust one central system to do that job. That system is called the identity provider. When you use an application, it asks the identity provider, “Is this person who they claim to be?” The identity provider answers, and the application lets you in.

The hotel analogy

Imagine a hotel. At check-in, the front desk checks your passport and gives you a key card. From then on, you do not show your passport at the gym, the breakfast room or your own door. Each door trusts the front desk, and the key card is the proof.

In this analogy:

  • The front desk is the identity provider.
  • The doors are the applications.
  • The key card is the proof of login, often called a token.
  • Your passport check is the actual authentication.

The big benefit is that your passport is only shown in one place. The gym does not need a copy of it.

Some useful words

Identity topics come with a lot of vocabulary. Here are the terms you need for the rest of this article.

TermSimple meaning
Identity provider (IdP)The system that checks who you are and vouches for you
Service provider (SP) or relying partyThe application that trusts the identity provider
AuthenticationProving who you are
AuthorizationDeciding what you are allowed to do
Token or assertionA signed digital message that says “this person has been verified”
SessionThe period during which you stay logged in
FederationTrust between separate systems or organizations so that identities can be used across them
MFA (multi-factor authentication)Using more than one proof, for example a password plus a code on your phone
ProvisioningCreating, updating and removing user accounts in applications

SSO is not the same as a password manager

People sometimes mix these two up. A password manager stores many passwords for you and fills them in. You still have many accounts and many passwords. They are just stored in a safe place.

With real SSO, the application does not need its own password for you at all. It relies on the identity provider. So there are fewer passwords to steal, to forget or to reset.

SSO is not the same as “same sign-on”

Another common confusion. “Same sign-on” means you use the same username and password in many systems. That is not SSO. Each system still checks the password itself, and a leak in one system can expose the others. In real SSO, the credential is only given to the identity provider.

Part 2: How SSO works under the hood

You do not need to be a developer to follow this section. Understanding the basic flow helps you ask better questions when you evaluate any identity solution.

The basic flow

  1. You try to open an application.
  2. The application sees that you are not logged in.
  3. The application redirects you to the identity provider.
  4. The identity provider checks whether you already have a session. If not, it asks you to log in.
  5. After a successful login, the identity provider creates a signed message that says who you are.
  6. Your browser carries this message back to the application.
  7. The application checks the signature to confirm that the message really came from the trusted identity provider.
  8. The application lets you in.

When you then open a second application, steps 4 to 6 are fast, because the identity provider already knows you. That is the “single” in Single Sign-On.

The main protocols

Applications and identity providers need agreed rules to communicate. The three most important ones are:

SAML 2.0 (Security Assertion Markup Language). This is the older, very widespread standard for company SSO. The identity provider sends an XML document called an assertion to the application. SAML is common in enterprise software, especially for business tools used by employees. It works well but can be heavy to configure. It involves metadata files, certificates and exact settings that must match on both sides.

OAuth 2.0. OAuth is really about authorization, not login. It lets an application get limited access to something on your behalf, for example “this app may read your calendar.” It uses access tokens. It is not an SSO protocol by itself, but it is the base for the next one.

OpenID Connect (OIDC). OIDC is a thin identity layer built on top of OAuth 2.0. It adds a standard way to say who the user is, using an ID token. It is popular for modern web and mobile applications, because it is lighter and easier for developers than SAML.

In short: SAML is the long-time enterprise workhorse, OIDC is the modern default for new applications, and OAuth 2.0 is the foundation under OIDC.

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What is inside a token?

Tokens and assertions carry a few important pieces of information:

  • Who the user is (a unique identifier)
  • Who issued the token (the identity provider)
  • Who the token is meant for (the application)
  • When it was issued and when it expires
  • Sometimes extra details, such as name, email or group membership
  • A digital signature, so the application knows it was not changed on the way

The signature is the key element. If an application can verify that a token really came from the trusted identity provider, it does not need to see your password at all.

Sessions: logging in once, but for how long?

After the first login, the identity provider usually keeps a session. This is what allows silent logins into other applications. Session length is a real design choice:

  • Longer sessions feel more convenient but give attackers more time if a session is stolen.
  • Shorter sessions are safer but interrupt people more often.

Good setups use a mix. They keep sessions short for sensitive systems, ask for a fresh login when something unusual happens, and allow longer sessions for low-risk tools.

Provisioning: the part people forget

Logging in is only half of identity management. The other half is account lifecycle: creating accounts when people join, changing access when they change roles, and removing access when they leave.

A common standard here is SCIM (System for Cross-domain Identity Management). It lets the identity provider automatically create, update and delete accounts in connected applications. Without something like it, SSO only solves the “how do I log in” part, and teams still create and remove accounts by hand.

Multi-factor authentication and SSO

SSO and MFA work well together. Because everyone logs in through one central point, the company can enforce strong authentication there once, instead of hoping that each application does it properly. This is one of the biggest practical security wins of SSO. The flip side is that the central login becomes extremely valuable and has to be protected very well.

Part 3: Why SSO matters for companies

SSO is often sold as a nice-to-have. For most mid-size and large companies, it is closer to a basic requirement. Let us go through the reasons one by one.

1. Credentials are still the main entry point for attackers

A large share of real-world attacks start with stolen, guessed or phished credentials. Attackers do not always need clever technical exploits. If they can get a valid login, they can walk in the front door.

SSO reduces this exposure in a few ways:

  • Fewer places where credentials exist
  • Fewer passwords for people to reuse or write down
  • One central place to apply strong authentication
  • One central place to detect and block suspicious logins

2. Faster, safer onboarding

When a new employee joins, they need access to a set of tools on day one. Without SSO, someone has to create accounts in each tool, send temporary passwords, and ask the new person to set up security for each system. This is slow and error-prone.

With SSO and automatic provisioning, access can follow the role. A new person in the sales team gets the sales tools. A new developer gets the developer tools. The company defines this once and applies it every time.

3. Faster, safer offboarding

This is often the strongest argument. When someone leaves, the company needs to remove access everywhere, quickly. Without central control, forgotten accounts stay alive. These are sometimes called orphaned accounts. They are a favorite finding in security audits and a favorite target for attackers.

With SSO, disabling one central identity can cut off access to all connected applications at once. The speed here matters. The time between “this person left” and “this person can no longer access anything” should be as short as possible.

4. Lower IT and support costs

Password resets are a classic helpdesk burden. Each reset takes time from the user and from IT. When logins are centralized and use stronger, simpler methods, the number of these tickets drops. IT teams can then spend time on projects instead of repetitive requests.

5. A better daily experience

Employees notice login friction every day. Each interruption is small, but together they add up to lost focus and frustration. A smooth login experience makes people more productive and more willing to follow security rules, because the secure path is also the easy path.

This point matters more than it sounds. When security is annoying, people work around it. They share accounts, keep passwords in notes, or use personal tools for company work. Good SSO reduces the temptation to do that.

6. Central visibility and audit trails

When all logins go through one place, the company gets one coherent log. It can see who logged in, to what, from where and when. That helps with:

  • Investigating incidents
  • Spotting unusual behavior
  • Proving to auditors that access is controlled
  • Reviewing who has access to sensitive systems

Without SSO, logs are scattered across many tools and often incomplete.

7. Consistent security rules

A company can set one policy and apply it to many applications. Examples:

  • Require MFA for every login
  • Require stronger proof for admin tools
  • Block logins from certain countries or unmanaged devices
  • Limit session length for sensitive systems

Doing this application by application is hard and inconsistent. Doing it centrally is much more reliable.

8. Support for compliance and regulation

Many security standards and regulations expect companies to control access, follow the principle of least privilege, review accounts regularly, remove unused access and protect personal data. SSO does not make a company compliant by itself. But it makes many of these requirements much easier to demonstrate, because access control is centralized and documented.

9. Easier mergers, growth and contractors

Companies grow, merge and work with external partners. Each of these creates identity challenges. A strong central identity layer makes it easier to onboard a new subsidiary, give a contractor limited and time-bound access, or connect partner organizations through federation.

10. A foundation for Zero Trust

Zero Trust is a security approach built on the idea “never trust, always verify.” Every request should be checked, no matter where it comes from. Identity is at the center of this model. A modern, central, well-protected identity layer is a prerequisite for Zero Trust, and SSO is typically part of it.

The business case in one sentence

SSO reduces risk, saves time, improves the user experience and makes it easier to prove control. For most companies, the question is not whether to use something like SSO, but how to do it well.

Part 4: The hidden problems of classic SSO

Being honest about limits makes any technology more useful. Classic SSO solves many problems but also introduces or leaves open several others.

Problem 1: The single point of failure and the single point of attack

If everything depends on one identity provider, two things become critical:

  • Availability. If the identity provider is down, people may be locked out of everything.
  • Security. If an attacker takes over the identity provider, or a highly privileged account in it, they can potentially reach everything connected.

This does not mean SSO is a bad idea. It means the identity provider needs very strong protection, redundancy and monitoring.

Problem 2: Central databases of credentials

Many identity systems store password hashes, personal data and sometimes biometric templates in a central database. That database is a honeypot. Even with good protection, the sheer value of the data makes it a long-term target. The less a system has to store, the less can be stolen.

Problem 3: Passwords did not go away

In many SSO setups, the actual login to the identity provider is still a password. Often with a second factor on top, but still a password. That means the weakest part of the chain, the one that can be phished, reused and guessed, still exists. SSO has concentrated the risk, but not removed it.

Problem 4: Phishing still works

If a user is tricked into entering their credentials on a fake login page, SSO does not help by itself. In fact, a successful phish of an SSO login can be worse than a phish of a single application, because the attacker gets a key to many doors. Phishing-resistant methods, based on public-key cryptography and origin checks, are the real answer here. More on that in the next part.

Problem 5: Session and token theft

Even with strong login, attackers can try to steal the session or token after the login. If they get a valid session, they can act as the user without needing the password. Short lifetimes, device binding and good monitoring help, but this remains a real risk area.

Problem 6: Complex and slow integration

Connecting an application to a company’s SSO can be a project of its own. With SAML in particular, teams deal with certificates, metadata files, claim mappings, redirect URLs and many small details that must be exactly right. A misconfiguration can cause either login failures or security holes. For small teams, this complexity is often a real barrier, and it is one reason many smaller products do not support SSO at all.

Problem 7: The “SSO tax”

Many software vendors treat SSO as a premium feature. They offer it only in their most expensive plan. Companies that need it for security reasons end up paying much more than the base price. This is sometimes called the SSO tax. It leaves smaller organizations with a hard choice: pay a lot more, or accept weaker security.

Problem 8: Legacy systems and shadow IT

Not every application supports modern protocols. Old internal systems may only know usernames and passwords. And employees may sign up for tools that IT does not know about at all. These situations leave gaps outside of the SSO umbrella.

Problem 9: Privacy and vendor dependence

In a typical model, the identity provider sees every login and knows a lot about the user. For internal employee systems, that may be acceptable. For customer-facing systems, it raises serious questions about data protection and about who owns the identity. If your identity lives in someone else’s system, moving away from that system can be difficult.

Problem 10: Machines and AI agents

This is the newest and fastest growing problem. Companies increasingly run automated workflows, service accounts, bots and AI agents. They need access to systems, too. Classic SSO was designed for humans sitting in front of a screen. For machines, teams often fall back on shared accounts, long-lived API keys and static secrets. These are hard to track, hard to rotate and dangerous when leaked.

A growing number of agents acting on behalf of people and organizations raises hard questions:

  • Who created this agent?
  • Who is responsible for it?
  • What is it allowed to do?
  • How do we switch it off?
  • How do we know it is really who it says it is?

Most current identity setups do not have good answers.

Part 5: The shift toward device-bound, passwordless identity

In recent years the industry has moved toward a different model, built around passkeys and public-key cryptography.

What are passkeys and WebAuthn?

WebAuthn is a web standard that allows websites to use cryptographic keys instead of passwords. Passkeys are the user-friendly version of this idea.

Here is how it works in simple terms:

  1. When you register, your device creates a pair of keys: one private, one public.
  2. The private key stays on your device, protected by hardware and unlocked by your fingerprint, face or device PIN.
  3. The public key is given to the service.
  4. When you log in, the service sends a challenge.
  5. Your device signs it with the private key, after you unlock it with your biometrics.
  6. The service checks the signature with the public key.

At no point does a password travel over the internet. At no point does the service receive your fingerprint or face. The private key never leaves the device.

Why this is such a big step

  • Phishing resistance. The login is tied to the real website address. A fake site cannot use your key, because the cryptographic check includes the origin.
  • No shared secret. The service only holds a public key. If it is stolen, the thief cannot log in with it.
  • No password to forget or reuse.
  • Better experience. Unlocking with your face or fingerprint is faster than typing.

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What this means for SSO

If the central login uses a phishing-resistant, device-bound method, many of the classic SSO risks shrink. The “one key for many doors” problem is much less dangerous when the key cannot be stolen by tricking the user.

That is the direction in which identity is moving, and it is the direction in which UIID has been built from the start.

Part 6: What is UIID?

UIID is an identity system from LINKSPREED. The name stands for Universal Internet Identity, and the project describes itself as a local-first identity protocol. You can get started at https://uiid.me.

The core idea is simple: your identity should be created on your own device and should stay under your control, instead of living in a central database that every service depends on.

Let us look at the main building blocks.

Local-first identity

With UIID, identities are generated directly on the device. Because they are created locally, there is no need for a central store of passwords or secrets that attackers could target. The system is designed to eliminate passwords and to remove the central data vulnerabilities that come with them.

Biometrics stay on the device

UIID uses device biometrics, such as fingerprint or face unlock, together with WebAuthn standards. The biometric check happens locally, inside the secure hardware of the device. The biometric data itself is not sent to a server. The server gets proof that the check happened, not the data used for it.

An important side effect: because a real device with real local biometrics is required, it becomes much harder and more expensive to create large numbers of fake accounts or bot networks.

Dual-layer identity: Core ID and Aliases

This is one of the most distinctive parts of the design. UIID splits identity into two layers:

  • Core ID. The master identity that you control. It is the root.
  • Aliases. Separate identities for individual contexts, such as one website, one app or one relationship.

Each service sees only its own alias. It does not see your Core ID, and it cannot easily connect your alias on one service with your alias on another. That means services cannot easily follow you across the web, build profiles about you or sell cross-site data.

For companies, this has two sides. On the customer side, it is a strong privacy promise that builds trust. On the employee side, it is a clean model for separating different roles and contexts under one controlling identity.

Zero-knowledge proofs

Zero-knowledge proofs are a cryptographic method to prove that a statement is true without revealing the underlying data. In UIID, this enables actions such as verifying age or location without revealing names or full government IDs.

Think of the practical effect. A service might only need to know “this person is over 18” or “this person is in the right region.” With a zero-knowledge proof, it gets exactly that answer and nothing more. The service never receives data that it would then have to store, protect and report on. For companies, data that was never collected can never be leaked.

Bridging the old web

Most of the internet does not support UIID yet. To help with the transition, UIID can bridge traditional logins. Users can convert existing social and banking logins into decoupled UIID-based keys. After the human status is verified, the link to the legacy tracking mechanisms is severed. Users also get dedicated private storage as part of this.

UIID WRAP

WRAP is the part of UIID that works at the edge between UIID and today’s web. It is aimed at the large number of sites that only know email and password. In short, WRAP:

  • Pairs self-owned identity with isolated aliases
  • Uses secure relay emails, so your real address is not handed out
  • Applies strict origin matching, which is designed to make phishing structurally impossible
  • Keeps you in control of each decision before anything is submitted

This approach is meant to move people away from the old model of a password vault, toward an identity model where each site only receives what it needs.

Entities beyond humans

Since version 2.8, UIID is not only for human users. It supports multiple entity types, each with its own enrollment flow. They include human individuals, organizations and AI agents, as well as other types such as hardware devices. Each can have its own cryptographically verifiable identity, like a digital passport.

This is a big deal for the final problem we discussed in Part 4: machines and agents.

The Agent Factory and zero-trust provisioning

To keep agent identity organized, UIID v2.8 introduced a control center called the Agent Factory. From there, individuals and organizations can:

  • Issue provisioning tokens
  • Create new machine identities
  • Monitor activity, resource use and trust scores

Instead of static secrets and long-lived keys, UIID uses dynamic tokens that are single-use or multi-use. If a token is intercepted, it should not become a master key to the whole fleet.

Agents can also register themselves through a machine-readable skill.md protocol, and advertise their capabilities on their public profile. The idea is that agents should have an identity, an owner and a clear scope, instead of being ghosts that borrow human credentials.

Developer-friendly integration

One of the main complaints about classic SSO is integration effort. UIID is designed so that teams can integrate login through REST APIs and SDKs, rather than spending weeks on complex SAML or OAuth setups. The aim is that a small team can add strong, passwordless login quickly.

Recent direction

Development has continued in clear steps. Passkey support arrived with v2.12. An MCP server for UIID is planned for v2.13, which is meant to let AI tools work with UIID in a structured way. All of this fits one picture: UIID as an identity layer for people, organizations and agents, not only a login button.

Part 7: UIID and SSO side by side

Let us compare the two directly. This is not “SSO versus UIID.” SSO is a pattern, and UIID is a system that can serve that pattern in a different way. The comparison is about how the typical classic setup and the UIID approach handle the same problems.

TopicTypical classic SSO setupUIID approach
Where identity is createdIn a central directoryOn the user’s own device
Main login methodOften a password plus a second factorDevice biometrics and WebAuthn, no password
Phishing resistanceDepends on the method usedBuilt into the design through origin checks
Central credential storeYes, usuallyDesigned to avoid it
Biometric dataSometimes stored centrallyStays on the device
Cross-service trackingPossible, since the provider sees all loginsReduced through separate aliases
Privacy proofsUsually share full attributesZero-knowledge proofs for minimal disclosure
Integration effortOften weeks of setupREST APIs and SDKs aimed at quick integration
Machines and agentsOften shared accounts or static keysDedicated identities and dynamic tokens

The point is not that classic SSO is bad. Many companies run it very well. The point is that the building blocks are changing, and a modern identity layer can deliver the benefits of SSO with fewer of the traditional risks.

Part 8: What a company gains from this approach

Let us make it concrete with a few scenarios.

Scenario 1: A mid-size company that wants to get rid of passwords

The company has several hundred employees and a dozen core tools. Password resets keep the helpdesk busy, and a recent phishing campaign came uncomfortably close to working.

With a device-bound identity layer, employees unlock with fingerprint or face on their own device. There is no password to phish. The company no longer needs to hold a store of password hashes. The helpdesk sees fewer tickets, and a phishing site cannot reuse the login, because the cryptographic check is tied to the real origin.

Scenario 2: A software vendor that needs to offer SSO to its customers

A small software company keeps losing deals because larger customers ask for SSO. The team does not have the time for long SAML projects and does not want to build identity infrastructure from scratch.

An identity layer with REST APIs and SDKs lets the team add secure, passwordless login without becoming identity experts. They can concentrate on their own product.

Scenario 3: A consumer-facing product that cares about privacy

A company runs an online service for the public. It wants to verify that users are real people and over a certain age, but it does not want to hold ID documents or build a database of sensitive details.

With zero-knowledge proofs, the service can ask only the question it needs and receive a yes or no answer. With aliases, it sees a context-specific identity and not the user’s master identity. The company reduces its risk and its compliance burden, and users see a service that treats them with respect.

Scenario 4: A company running AI agents

A team starts using agents to handle support tickets, analyze data and run internal workflows. At first they share one service account. Soon nobody knows which agent did what.

With a dedicated identity per agent, an owner assigned to each one, and short-lived provisioning tokens, the company can see which agent acted, who is responsible, and shut down a single agent without breaking the rest. This is the difference between running a fleet and running a crowd.

Scenario 5: A company with legacy sites and tools

Some tools will not support modern identity for years. A bridging layer like WRAP helps users keep control even on sites that only know passwords, by using isolated aliases and relay emails, and by matching the real origin before anything is filled in.

Part 9: A practical checklist for evaluating any SSO or identity solution

Whether you look at UIID or any other option, these questions help you cut through marketing.

Security

  • Is the login phishing-resistant, or can users still be tricked into typing a secret?
  • Where are credentials stored, and what happens if that store is breached?
  • How are sessions and tokens protected against theft?
  • What happens when a device is lost or stolen?
  • Can you enforce different levels of strength for different systems?

Lifecycle

  • How are accounts created, changed and removed?
  • How fast can you cut off one person’s access everywhere?
  • Is there support for automatic provisioning?

Integration

  • How long does it take to connect a new application?
  • Are there SDKs, clear documentation and standard protocols?
  • What do you do with systems that cannot support modern login?

Privacy and data

  • What does the provider know about your users?
  • Can services track a user across other services?
  • How much personal data do you have to collect and store yourself?

Resilience

  • What happens if the identity provider is unavailable?
  • How do users recover access?
  • How easy is it to leave the provider if needed?

The future

  • Does it handle machines and AI agents, or only humans?
  • Can you see who owns each agent and what it has done?
  • Does it work with modern standards such as WebAuthn and passkeys?

Any serious solution should have honest answers to these questions.

Part 10: Common questions

Is SSO only for large companies?

No. Large companies need it most, but smaller teams benefit too. The main problem for small teams has been cost and complexity, which modern identity layers try to reduce.

Does SSO mean I only need one password?

In classic SSO, yes, one login opens many doors. That is why that one login must be strong. In a passwordless model, there is no password at all. You unlock with your device.

Is a single login a bigger risk?

It can be, if it is weakly protected. If it is protected with phishing-resistant, device-bound authentication, it is usually safer than dozens of separate passwords.

What if I lose my device?

Any device-bound system needs a clear recovery plan. This is a question to ask of every provider, including UIID, and to test before you roll anything out widely.

Do passkeys replace SSO?

Not exactly. Passkeys are a way to log in. SSO is a way to share that login across many applications. The two work well together.

Why does identity matter for AI agents?

Because agents act in the world. Without identity, there is no accountability. With identity, you know who an agent is, who owns it, what it may do, and how to stop it.

Part 11: Coming in UIID v2.14, SSO takes the next step

Everything above leads to a simple observation. UIID already covers the foundations that modern SSO needs:

  • Passwordless, device-bound authentication
  • Phishing-resistant login based on WebAuthn
  • Privacy by design, with Core IDs, aliases and zero-knowledge proofs
  • Identity for humans, organizations and AI agents
  • A developer-friendly integration path through APIs and SDKs

With UIID v2.14, we are planning to expand SSO in UIID.

We are not publishing the full details yet. But here are the principles that guide the work:

  • Simple for developers. Adding SSO should not feel like a multi-week project.
  • Clear for IT and security teams. Central control, easy onboarding and offboarding, and clear visibility should be part of the picture.
  • Respectful of privacy. Companies should get the benefits of SSO without building or relying on a honeypot of credentials and personal data.
  • Ready for the age of agents. SSO should cover not only people, but also the agents and machines working next to them.

If SSO is a topic for your team, this is a good moment to look at UIID and to tell us what you would need. What integrations are most important to you? What would make your onboarding and offboarding better? What keeps you from moving away from passwords today? Your answers will help shape what we build.

Key takeaways

  • SSO lets people log in once and use many applications, with a central identity system confirming who they are.
  • Under the hood it relies on standards such as SAML, OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect, and often SCIM for account lifecycle.
  • For companies, the benefits are lower credential risk, faster onboarding and offboarding, lower support effort, a better user experience, central policies, better audit trails and easier compliance.
  • Classic SSO also has weaknesses: a single point of failure, central credential stores, remaining passwords, phishing risk, complex setup, the SSO tax, legacy gaps, privacy concerns and no good answer for AI agents.
  • Passkeys and WebAuthn change the picture, because they remove shared secrets and make phishing much harder.
  • UIID from LINKSPREED is a local-first, passwordless identity system with device biometrics, Core IDs and aliases, zero-knowledge proofs, and identities for humans, organizations and AI agents.
  • UIID v2.14 is planned to expand SSO further.

You can create your UIID today at https://uiid.me. More on SSO in UIID v2.14 will follow soon.

About LINKSPREED: LINKSPREED builds UIID, a privacy-first identity layer for people, organizations and autonomous agents.