Troy Hunt. Security, Privacy and Trust for the Research and Education Community.
Certificate Service Guides and Demos. What Is Kerberos Authentication?: Logon and Authentication. What Is Kerberos Authentication?
In this section The Kerberos version 5 authentication protocol provides a mechanism for authentication — and mutual authentication — between a client and a server, or between one server and another server. Windows Server 2003 implements the Kerberos V5 protocol as a security support provider (SSP), which can be accessed through the Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI). In addition, Windows Server 2003 implements extensions to the protocol that permit initial authentication by using public key certificates on smart cards. The Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) uses the domain’s Active Directory directory service database as its security account database.