What is the purpose of OAuth in Salesforce?

The purpose of OAuth in Salesforce is to authorize external applications without revealing user credentials. OAuth is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used for token-based authentication and authorization on the internet. In this context, when a user grants permission to an external application to access their Salesforce data, OAuth enables this access through tokens instead of requiring users to share their usernames and passwords directly with the application.

This approach enhances security by ensuring that the external application does not have direct access to sensitive credentials. Instead, access tokens are used, which can be limited in scope and time, adding an additional layer of control over what the application can do on behalf of the user.

The other options do not accurately capture the primary purpose of OAuth in Salesforce. Enhancing user passwords, managing user sessions, and creating new user profiles are functionalities within Salesforce, but they are not the primary concern of the OAuth protocol itself. OAuth focuses specifically on the secure delegation of access rights to external applications.