# OAuth

OAuth stands for **O**pen **Auth**orization and is an open standard for authorization. It works to authorize devices, APIs, servers and applications using access tokens rather than user credentials, known as "secure delegated access".

In its most simplest form, OAuth delegates authentication to services like Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and authorizes third-party applications to access the user account **without** having to enter their login and password.

It is mostly utilized for REST/APIs and only provides a limited scope of a user's data.

<ResourceGroupTitle>Free Content</ResourceGroupTitle>
<BadgeLink colorScheme='yellow' badgeText='Read' href='https://developer.okta.com/blog/2017/06/21/what-the-heck-is-oauth'>Okta - What the Heck is OAuth</BadgeLink>
<BadgeLink colorScheme='yellow' badgeText='Read' href='https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/an-introduction-to-oauth-2'>DigitalOcean - An Introduction to OAuth 2</BadgeLink>
<BadgeLink badgeText='Watch' href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4-416mg6iU'>What is OAuth really all about</BadgeLink>
<BadgeLink badgeText='Watch' href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPbvxxslDTU'>OAuth 2.0: An Overview</BadgeLink>
