Ann, a technician, is using a saved workflow to deploy virtual servers. The script worked yesterday but is now returning an authentication error. Ann confirms that she can manually log in with her own

Certificate misconfiguration typically produces TLS handshake or SSL errors rather than an authentication error returned by the platform's identity layer.

Account expiration would prevent Ann from logging in manually with the same account, but the scenario confirms her manual login succeeds, making the script's service account a separate identity issue tied to federation.

Federated authentication relies on a trust relationship between an identity provider and the target platform, often using tokens or SAML assertions with limited lifetimes. If the federation configuration changed - such as an expired signing certificate or a broken trust link - automated scripts using federated service accounts would fail with authentication errors while interactive logins using a direct credential path remain unaffected.

Encryption issues would manifest as connection or data-integrity errors, not an authentication failure specific to an automated workflow.