Glossary
Request Signing
Request signing cryptographically signs an entire request — not just presenting a bearer token as proof, but signing the specific contents of this exact request — so a verifier can confirm both who sent it and that nothing about it was altered in transit, independent of whatever transport channel actually carried it. A signed request that's tampered with in transit fails verification regardless of how it was tampered with, since the signature covers the request's actual content, not just the fact that some credential was presented alongside it.
This is a stronger guarantee than a bearer token alone provides: a bearer token proves the presenter holds a valid credential, but says nothing about whether the specific request it accompanies was altered somewhere between being sent and being received. Signing ties the credential's authority directly to the exact content of this one request.