---
title: "10 Most-Popular Identity Posts in 2018"
description: "Our 10 most-popular identity posts in 2018 ranging from auth standards to web authentication."
authors:
  - name: "Ramiro Nunez Dosio"
    url: "https://auth0.com/blog/authors/ramiro-nunez-dosio/"
date: "Dec 19, 2018"
category: "Identity & Security,Identity,Most Popular"
tags: ["auth", "oauth", "standards", "iam", "web-auth", "hashing", "salting", "authentication", "authorization", "scopes", "oauth", "oauth2"]
url: "https://auth0.com/blog/10-most-popular-identity-posts-in-2018/"
---

# 10 Most-Popular Identity Posts in 2018



Time flies when you are having fun. It's December already and we are getting ready to wrap up this year. 2018 was a prolific year for the Auth0 blog: we published more than 200 posts (😱) where we tackled a diverse amount of topics: frontend and backend technologies, data breaches, GDPR, Cybersecurity, Company Culture, and of course, Identity.

We believe looking back is key to look ahead. That is why this week, we are going to take a look back at the best and most impactful posts we have published in 2018.

One article wouldn't be enough to review this amazing year, that's why we have decided to split this year in review into 3 parts: [Developer Posts](https://auth0.com/blog/10-most-popular-developer-posts-in-2018/), [Security Posts](https://auth0.com/blog/10-most-popular-security-posts-in-2018/), and Identity Posts.

Without much further ado, here's the roundup of our 10 most-popular Identity posts this year!

![Auth0's 10 Most-Popular Identity Posts](https://images.ctfassets.net/23aumh6u8s0i/2PZojrBsthRTB6sKxDI0nw/cf5db7303eafa89f7ef46b4bc5f05e81/identity-posts)

## Auth0's 10 Most-Popular Identity Posts in 2018

> The following posts are not listed in any particular order.

1. <a href="#an-overview-of-open-standards" target="_self">An Overview of Open Standards</a>
2. <a href="#3-iam-examples-to-support-digital-transformation" target="_self">3 IAM Examples to Support Digital Transformation</a>
3. <a href="#a-look-at-the-draft-for-jwt-best-current-practices" target="_self">A Look at The Draft for JWT Best Current Practices</a>
4. <a href="#introduction-to-web-authentication-the-new-w3c-spec" target="_self">Introduction to Web Authentication: The New W3C Spec</a>
5. <a href="#how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project" target="_self">How To Have a Successful IDM Project</a>
6. <a href="#how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project-part-2" target="_self">How To Have a Successful IDM Project (Part 2)</a>
7. <a href="#on-the-nature-of-oauth2s-scopes" target="_self">On The Nature of OAuth2’s Scopes</a>
8. <a href="#hashing-passwords-one-way-road-to-security" target="_self">Hashing Passwords: One-Way Road to Security</a>
9. <a href="#adding-salt-to-hashing-a-better-way-to-store-passwords" target="_self">Adding Salt to Hashing: A Better Way to Store Passwords</a>
10. <a href="#how-utilities-can-use-ciam-to-avoid-3-common-problems" target="_self">How Utilities Can Use CIAM to Avoid 3 Common Problems</a>

## <a name="an-overview-of-open-standards"></a>1. [An Overview of Open Standards](https://auth0.com/blog/an-overview-of-open-standards/)

In this overview, we will go over what open standards are and why they matter. We will also go over the top open standards used for identity including OAuth 2, OpenID Connect, JWT, and SAML. Open standards are important to understand but one can easily get overwhelmed by the technical specifications.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/an-overview-of-open-standards/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/10-most-popular-identity-posts-in-2018/open-certificationpng.png" altText="Open Certification" imgWidth="560" imgHeight="560"/>

## <a name="3-iam-examples-to-support-digital-transformation"></a>2. [3 IAM Examples to Support Digital Transformation](https://auth0.com/blog/3-iam-examples-to-support-digital-transformation/)

From basic website authentication to implementing an OpenID Connect server and API authentication: This article covers 3 IAM examples to support your Digital Transformation.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/3-iam-examples-to-support-digital-transformation/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/iam-digital-transform/sso-data-model.png" altText="SSO Data Model" imgWidth="714" imgHeight="559"/>

## <a name="a-look-at-the-draft-for-jwt-best-current-practices"></a>3. [A Look at The Draft for JWT Best Current Practices](https://auth0.com/blog/a-look-at-the-latest-draft-for-jwt-bcp/)

In this post, we will take a look at the draft for the JWT Best Current Practices document. This document describes common pitfalls and attacks related to the use of JWTs, and how to implement mitigations against them. Read on!

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/a-look-at-the-latest-draft-for-jwt-bcp/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/jwt-bcp/Substitution-Attack-Different-Recipient.png" altText="Different Recipient JWT Substitution Attack" imgWidth="590" imgHeight="492"/>

## <a name="introduction-to-web-authentication-the-new-w3c-spec"></a>4. [Introduction to Web Authentication: The New W3C Spec](https://auth0.com/blog/introduction-to-web-authentication/)

Web Authentication brings a stronger authentication mechanism to the masses by defining an API that both authenticators and web browsers can implement. Learn why Google, Paypal, Mozilla, and others back it up.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/introduction-to-web-authentication/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/webauthn/1-Web-Authentication-Entities.png" altText="Web Authentication Entities" imgWidth="617" imgHeight="409"/>

## <a name="how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project"></a>5. [How To Have a Successful IDM Project](https://auth0.com/blog/how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project/)

Learn how to create a realistic project plan to have a good Identity Management project deployment.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/good-idm-project/enabling-mfa.png" altText="Eanbling Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) from Auth0" imgWidth="617" imgHeight="361"/>

## <a name="how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project-part-2"></a>6. [How To Have a Successful IDM Project (Part 2)](https://auth0.com/blog/how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project-part-2/)

Learn how to plan for failures and changes in your identity project.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project-part-2/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/how-to-have-a-successful-idm-project-part-2/resetting-a-users-multi-factor-account-with-auth0.png" altText="Resetting a user's multi-factor account" imgWidth="617" imgHeight="439"/>

## <a name="on-the-nature-of-oauth2s-scopes"></a>7. [On The Nature of OAuth2’s Scopes](https://auth0.com/blog/on-the-nature-of-oauth2-scopes/)

Auth0 Principal Architect and Identity expert Vittorio Bertocci on why using OAuth2 scopes in every authorization scenario is not a good idea.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/on-the-nature-of-oauth2-scopes/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/on-the-nature-of-oauth2-scopes/oauth2-scopes-mail-api.png" altText="OAuth2 Scopes Mail API exmaple" imgWidth="617" imgHeight="280"/>

## <a name="hashing-passwords-one-way-road-to-security"></a>8. [Hashing Passwords: One-Way Road to Security](https://auth0.com/blog/hashing-passwords-one-way-road-to-security/)

A strong password storage strategy is critical to mitigating data breaches that put the reputation of any organization in danger. Hashing is the foundation of secure password storage.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/hashing-passwords-one-way-road-to-security/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/hashing-one-way-road-to-security/hash-flow.png" altText="Hashing algorithm flow example - one-way" imgWidth="617" imgHeight="340"/>

## <a name="adding-salt-to-hashing-a-better-way-to-store-passwords"></a>9. [Adding Salt to Hashing: A Better Way to Store Passwords](https://auth0.com/blog/adding-salt-to-hashing-a-better-way-to-store-passwords/)

A salt is added to the hashing process to force their uniqueness, increase their complexity without increasing user requirements, and to mitigate password attacks like rainbow tables

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/adding-salt-to-hashing-a-better-way-to-store-passwords/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/adding-salt-to-hashing-a-better-way-to-store-passwords/password-salt-example.png" altText="Example showing how using a salt with hashing produces unique hashes." imgWidth="617" imgHeight="277"/>

## <a name="how-utilities-can-use-ciam-to-avoid-3-common-problems"></a>10. [How Utilities Can Use CIAM to Avoid 3 Common Problems](https://auth0.com/blog/how-utilities-can-use-ciam-to-avoid-3-common-problems/)

Customer identity and management technology helps utilities reshape how they interact with users, improve their services, and tighten security.

<include src="ClickImg" externalUrl="https://auth0.com/blog/how-utilities-can-use-ciam-to-avoid-3-common-problems/" imgUrl="https://cdn.auth0.com/blog/how-utilities-can-use-ciam-to-avoid-3-common-problems/progressive-profiling-flow.png" altText="Utility customer progressive profiling flow" imgWidth="617" imgHeight="303"/>

## What's Next?

We are already preparing our content pipeline for 2019. Identity and digital transformation are key areas that will keep businesses evolving to tackle challenges around privacy, usability, growth, and sociopolitical policies. We are committed to keep our content relevant to these changes and offer effective solutions through our products and services.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers for their consistent support and feedback. Is there anything that you'd like us to cover in 2019? Any particular identity topic or trend? Please let us know in the comments below or through social media ([Twitter](https://twitter.com/auth0), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/auth0)). As always, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive a weekly digest of our blog content.

Happy Holiday Season!

<include src="asides/AboutAuth0" />