Abstract: An identity authentication method is disclosed in embodiments of the present application. When a requester and an authentication access controller perform identity authentication using an authentication mechanism of a pre-shared key, the identity information of entities is transmitted in the form of ciphertext, thereby preventing the identity information of the entities from being exposed during the transmission, so that attackers cannot obtain private or sensitive information. The mutual or unilateral identity authentication between the authentication access controller and the requester is achieved while ensuring the confidentiality of the entity identity and related information, thereby laying a foundation for ensuring that the user accessing the network is legitimate and/or the network accessed by the user is legitimate.