The Heart database supports both Windows Authentication and mixed mode authentication.
- Windows Authentication is the default setting and is often referred to as integrated security because this SQL Server security model is tightly integrated with Windows. Certain Windows user and group accounts are trusted for SQL Server logon. Windows users who are already authenticated do not need to provide additional credentials.
- Mixed mode supports both Windows and SQL Server authentication. The SQL Server database maintains username and password pairs.
We recommend using Windows Authentication by default whenever possible. Windows Authentication uses a series of encrypted messages to authenticate users to SQL Server. In contrast, SQL Server logins and encrypted passwords are transmitted over the network, making them less secure.
For more information, refer to Authentication in SQL Server in the .NET Framework section on the learn.microsoft website.