Seamless authentication to Kafka can be efficiently achieved through the integration of OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC), enabling secure, token-based access to Kafka clusters. By leveraging these protocols, organizations can significantly enhance their security posture while simplifying identity management. OAuth 2.0 provides a robust framework for token-based authentication, reducing the reliance on long-term user credentials and mitigating the risks associated with credential exposure. This integration allows businesses to centralize authentication, improve access control, and ensure that only authorized users and applications can interact with Kafka resources. With OAuth 2.0 and OIDC, organizations can enforce role-based access control (RBAC), which ensures that users and applications only have access to the resources they need. This level of granularity in access management helps prevent unauthorized access and minimizes the potential attack surface. Throughout the integration process, key concepts of OAuth 2.0 and OIDC will be covered, along with practical steps for configuring them within Kafka. By the end of the session, participants will understand how to implement OAuth 2.0 and OIDC to streamline authentication, improve security, and simplify Kafka client access management in enterprise environments, all while maintaining a high level of control and compliance.