JSON Web Tokens for easy, secure SIP auth of WebRTC clients

7, Aug 2020

We’re thrilled to unveil the newest building block in our secure voice offering. Starting today, Telnyx users can authenticate with JSON Web Tokens in place of SIP credentials.


What are JSON Web Tokens?

JSON Web Tokens are an open standard, set out in RFC 7519"), for securely exchanging pieces of information about a subject, known as claims.

A JSON Web Token (JWT, pronounced “jot”) is simply a JSON payload containing a particular claim. The validity of a JWT can be confirmed simply by examining the contents of the token itself, a key security property that enables the widespread use of JWTs in authorization and information exchange applications.


How can I use JSON Web Tokens with Telnyx?

Using the Telnyx API, JWTs can be used in place of SIP username and passwords to ensure safe and secure authentication, particularly for WebRTC browser applications. The signed JWT acts effectively as a temporary user credential that replaces the permanent credential login (SIP username and password combination).

Telnyx JWTs also support custom expiration timestamps allowing full flexibility on when tokens expire to accommodate any use-case.




Check out our quickstart guides to see how you can integrate JWT authentication in your application in just a few lines of code, or skip straight to our API Reference to see the complete specifications.