Login and Authentication

Overview

Login and authentication are security measures implemented by websites to restrict access to certain content or actions to authenticated users. Authentication mechanisms ensure that only authorized users can access restricted areas or perform specific actions. In web scraping, handling login and authentication is necessary to access authenticated content and scrape data from restricted areas.

Websites use login forms to collect user credentials, such as usernames and passwords, to verify their identity. After the login is complete, they usually use a cookie or an authentication token to validate requests. Therefore, there are three main approaches for handling authentication in web scraping:

• Interact with the login form.

• Attach a valid cookie to requests.

• Attach a valid authentication token to requests.

Interact with the login form

In this approach, we automate the login process by navigating to the login page and using selectors to locate the login form to enter credentials and click the “Submit” button. Let’s use this sample website to practice this. We can play with it by entering the below credentials.

• Username: student

• Password: Password123