Digest access authentication is one of the agreed-upon methods a
web server can use to negotiate credentials, such as username or password, with a user's
web browser. This can be used to confirm the identity of a user before sending sensitive information, such as online banking transaction history. It applies a
hash function to the username and
password before sending them over the network. In contrast,
basic access authentication uses the easily reversible
Base64 encoding instead of encryption, making it non-secure unless used in conjunction with
SSL.