Shibboleth Goals

The goals of the Shibboleth software are:

Allow an organization use their existing user authentication mechanism to access web-based resources even if the resource is not operated by the orgnization. This has the benefits that:
- A user only needs their "normal" log on credentials, not one per resource.
- Access resources do not need to manage user credentials.
Allow the user's information maintained by their organization to be provided to the resource. This has the benefits that:
- When a user updates information with their organization all resources receives this new information when the user visits them.
- Resources do not need to store and maintain data known by the user's organization.
Allow the user, or their organization, to control the release of the user's information. This has the benefits that:
- The user, or their organization, is in control of what information gets released.
- Resources maintainers do not need to worry about receiving and protecting data they do not require.

Shibboleth Requirements