OAuth stands for Open Authorization. It is an open standard for authorization that provides applications with the ability to gain “secure designated access.” OAuth makes it possible to pass authorization from one application to another, regardless of what the two applications are. It is one of the most common methods used to pass authorization from a single sign-on (SSO) service to another cloud application, but it can be used between any two applications.

OAuth is an authentication protocol that allows you to approve one application that communicates with another application on your behalf without giving away your password. OAuth doesn’t use password credentials, but instead uses authorization tokens to prove an identity between consumers and service providers.