---
title: "Sitecore authentication"
slug: "sitecore-authentication"
abstract: "Describes the types of Sitecore Cloud Portal authentication."
---
# Sitecore authentication

The Sitecore Cloud Portal handles authentication and [user creation](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/portal-administration/invite-users-to-your-sitecore-cloud-portal-organization.html "Invite users to your Sitecore Cloud Portal organization") for all of your Sitecore DXP products.

When an [organization](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/sitecore-cloud-portal-terminology.html "Sitecore Cloud Portal terminology") is created, users log in with the default Sitecore authentication consisting of an email address and password. Then, the organization can configure how team members log in.

An organization has two options for authentication:

- Use their existing identity providers for authentication by enabling [single sign-on (SSO)](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/portal-administration/authentication/single-sign-on--sso-.html "Single sign-on (SSO)"). Email addresses that do not match the email domain of an enabled SSO connection will log in using the default Sitecore authentication.
- Use the default Sitecore authentication and improve their organization's security by enabling [multi-factor authentication](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/portal-administration/authentication/sitecore-authentication/manage-multi-factor-authentication.html "Manage multi-factor authentication").

For more details about the default Sitecore authentication, see the following topics:

- [Manage multi-factor authentication](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/portal-administration/authentication/sitecore-authentication/manage-multi-factor-authentication.html "Manage multi-factor authentication")
- [Password policy](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/portal-administration/authentication/sitecore-authentication/password-policy.html "Password policy")
- [Session lifetime](https://doc.sitecore.com/portal/en/developers/sitecore-cloud-portal/portal-administration/authentication/sitecore-authentication/session-lifetime.html "Session lifetime")