身份验证（英语：Authentication）又称“验证”、“鉴权”，是指通过一定的手段，完成对用户身份的确认。

身份验证的目的是确认当前所声称为某种身份的用户，确实是所声称的用户。在日常生活中，身份验证并不罕见；比如，通过检查对方的证件，我们一般可以确信对方的身份。虽然日常生活中的这种确认对方身份的做法也属于广义的“身份验证”，但“身份验证”一词更多地被用在计算机、通信等领域。

身份验证的方法有很多，基本上可分为：基于共享密钥的身份验证、基于生物学特征的身份验证和基于公开密钥加密算法的身份验证。不同的身份验证方法，安全性也各有高低。

Authentication (from Greek:αὐθεντικός authentikos, "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης authentes, "author") is the act of confirming the truth of an attribute of a single piece of data (a datum) claimed true by an entity. In contrast with identification which refers to the act of stating or otherwise indicating a claim purportedly attesting to a person or thing's identity, authentication is the process of actually confirming that identity. It might involve confirming the identity of a person by validating their identity documents, verifying the authenticity of a website with a digital certificate, determining the age of an artifact by carbon dating, or ensuring that a product is what its packaging and labeling claim to be. In other words, authentication often involves verifying the validity of at least one form of identification.