What is the type of Authentication that requires a Username and Password?

The type of authentication that requires a username and password is called knowledge-based authentication or, more commonly, password-based authentication. This method is a form of single-factor authentication (SFA), where the user provides something they know-in this case, their username and password-to verify their identity.

This is the most basic and widely used form of authentication in web applications, APIs, and systems. Users are prompted to enter a unique username and a secret password, which are then validated by the system to grant access.

While simple and easy to implement, password-based authentication is vulnerable to security threats like phishing, credential theft, and brute-force attacks. To enhance security, it is often supplemented with additional methods like multi-factor authentication (MFA), which combines the password with another factor like a hardware token or biometric verification.