Basic authentication is one of the original and most compatible authentication schemes for programs using HTTP as a transport mechanism. Unfortunately, it is also one of the least secure, as it sends the username and password unencrypted to the server. The credentials are typically passed in as HTTP header parameters. The user experience for basic authentication is a popup window that renders in the native windowing system. For example, when you use basic authentication on Windows, a Windows dialog box opens to prompt the user for credentials before the request can be honored.