At its core Shibboleth works the same as every other web-based Single Sign-on (SSO) system. What distinguishes Shibboleth from other products in this field is its adherence to standards and its ability to provide SSO support to services outside of a user’s organization while still protecting their privacy. The main elements of a web-based SSO system are: Web Browser – represents the user within the SSO process Resource – contains restricted access content that the user wants Identity Provider (IdP) – authenticates the user Service Provider (SP) – performs the SSO process for the resource