Kerberos was developed as the authentication engine for MIT’s Project Athena in 1983. Released as Open Source in 1987, it became an IETF standard in 1993.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Software: Overview

Kerberos was originally developed for MIT's Project Athena in the 1980s and has grown to become the most widely implemented system for authentication and authorization in modern computer networks. Kerberos is currently shipped with all major computer operating systems and is uniquely positioned to become a universal solution to the distributed authentication and authorization problem of permitting universal "single sign-on" within and between federated enterprises and peer-to-peer communities. MIT has developed and maintains implementations of Kerberos software for the Apple MacIntosh, Windows and Unix operating systems.

Read more about Kerberos from vendors, sponsors and third parties: white papers and specifications

A guided tour of Kerberos: tutorial

Get Kerberos: download

Use our developer tools: tools