SAML

SAML is short for "security assertion markup language." You'll almost always see it as SAML.

SAML is a security protocol built for securly creating an authentication and authorization system on the web. It is an open standard so everyone knows how it works.

SAML is very widely used and considered a very strong, very safe way to authenticate users for an application. However, it can be difficult to set up and even more difficult to maintain. Because of that, many developers and systems will use other methods.

For more information, see Security Assertion Markup Language.