[c#] ASP.NET Core Web API Authentication

I think you can go with JWT (Json Web Tokens).

First you need to install the package System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt:

$ dotnet add package System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt

You will need to add a controller for token generation and authentication like this one:

public class TokenController : Controller
{
    [Route("/token")]

    [HttpPost]
    public IActionResult Create(string username, string password)
    {
        if (IsValidUserAndPasswordCombination(username, password))
            return new ObjectResult(GenerateToken(username));
        return BadRequest();
    }

    private bool IsValidUserAndPasswordCombination(string username, string password)
    {
        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(username) && username == password;
    }

    private string GenerateToken(string username)
    {
        var claims = new Claim[]
        {
            new Claim(ClaimTypes.Name, username),
            new Claim(JwtRegisteredClaimNames.Nbf, new DateTimeOffset(DateTime.Now).ToUnixTimeSeconds().ToString()),
            new Claim(JwtRegisteredClaimNames.Exp, new DateTimeOffset(DateTime.Now.AddDays(1)).ToUnixTimeSeconds().ToString()),
        };

        var token = new JwtSecurityToken(
            new JwtHeader(new SigningCredentials(
                new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Secret Key You Devise")),
                                         SecurityAlgorithms.HmacSha256)),
            new JwtPayload(claims));

        return new JwtSecurityTokenHandler().WriteToken(token);
    }
}

After that update Startup.cs class to look like below:

namespace WebAPISecurity
{   
public class Startup
{
    public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
    {
        Configuration = configuration;
    }

    public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }

    // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to add services to the container.
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddMvc();

        services.AddAuthentication(options => {
            options.DefaultAuthenticateScheme = "JwtBearer";
            options.DefaultChallengeScheme = "JwtBearer";
        })
        .AddJwtBearer("JwtBearer", jwtBearerOptions =>
        {
            jwtBearerOptions.TokenValidationParameters = new TokenValidationParameters
            {
                ValidateIssuerSigningKey = true,
                IssuerSigningKey = new SymmetricSecurityKey(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Secret Key You Devise")),
                ValidateIssuer = false,
                //ValidIssuer = "The name of the issuer",
                ValidateAudience = false,
                //ValidAudience = "The name of the audience",
                ValidateLifetime = true, //validate the expiration and not before values in the token
                ClockSkew = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5) //5 minute tolerance for the expiration date
            };
        });

    }

    // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to configure the HTTP request pipeline.
    public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
    {
        if (env.IsDevelopment())
        {
            app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
        }

        app.UseAuthentication();

        app.UseMvc();
    }
}

And that's it, what is left now is to put [Authorize] attribute on the Controllers or Actions you want.

Here is a link of a complete straight forward tutorial.

http://www.blinkingcaret.com/2017/09/06/secure-web-api-in-asp-net-core/