!!! Overview
[{$pagename}] is the [Authentication] of an [entity]

!! Some Definitions
[{$pagename}] is defined in the [ISO] Security Architecture as: '''the corroboration that an entity is the one claimed'''

Handbook of Applied Cryptography[1] has definition is given as:
"''[{$pagename}] is the process whereby one party is assured (through acquisition of corroborative evidence) of the identity of a second party involved in a protocol, and that the second has actually participated (i.e., is active at, or immediately prior to, the time the evidence is acquired).''"


!! [{$pagename}] contrasted to [Message Authentication] [1]
A major difference between entity authentication and message authentication (as provided by digital signatures or MACs) is that message authentication itself provides no timeliness guarantees with respect to when a [message] was created, whereas [entity] authentication involves corroboration of a claimant’s identity through actual communications with an associated verifier during execution of the [protocol] itself (i.e., in real-time, while the verifying entity awaits). 

Conversely, entity authentication typically involves no meaningful message other than the claim of being a particular entity, whereas [Message Authentication] does.

!! More Information
There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:
[{ReferringPagesPlugin before='*' after='\n' }]
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* [#1] - [Handbook of Applied Cryptography|http://cacr.uwaterloo.ca/hac/about/chap10.pdf|target='_blank'] - based on information obtained 2018-03-03-