To perform HTTP Basic authentication, the client must combine the username and password with a single colon separator into a single string (username:password). This resulting string is then encoded using the Base64 algorithm. When sending the request, this encoded value is placed in the Authorization header, preceded by the keyword Basic and a space (e.g., Authorization: Basic ZGV2bmV0OkNpc2NvMTIz). This is a standard method defined in network protocols for simple identity verification between a client and a server without requiring complex handshake mechanisms.

RFC 7617: "The 'Basic' HTTP Authentication Scheme," Section 2 (The 'Basic' Authentication Scheme). IETF. https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7617

Cisco DevNet Documentation: "REST API Fundamentals - Authentication and Authorization," Section: Basic Authentication. https://developer.cisco.com/docs/fundamentals/auth/

MDN Web Docs (Mozilla): "HTTP authentication - Basic auth scheme," Technical Standards for Web APIs. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Authentication#basic_authentication_scheme

IEEE Xplore: "Security analysis of HTTP basic authentication," Section II: Mechanism Overview. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2016.2533612