By default, Cassandra installation disables authentication. Your application can connect to Cassandra so using cluster.Authenticator config option in your application has no affect. On top of that you can use cqlsh command without any credentials as shown below. This is because Cassandra configuration for authentication set as authenticator: AllowAllAuthenticator.

/## cqlsh
Connected to Test Cluster at 127.0.0.1:9042.
[cqlsh 5.0.1 | Cassandra 3.11.9 | CQL spec 3.4.4 | Native protocol v4]
Use HELP for help.

If you wish to enable authentication you can set Cassandra configuration for authentication as authenticator: PasswordAuthenticator. Cassandra creates default credentials set as “cassandra” (username) and “cassandra” (password). Let’s confirm this.

/## cqlsh -u cassandra -p cassandra
Connected to Test Cluster at 127.0.0.1:9042.
[cqlsh 5.0.1 | Cassandra 3.11.9 | CQL spec 3.4.4 | Native protocol v4]
Use HELP for help.

cqlsh$ LIST USERS;

 name      | super
-----------+-------
 cassandra |  True

cqlsh$ LIST ALL OF cassandra;

 role      | username  | resource     | permission
-----------+-----------+--------------+------------
 cassandra | cassandra | role inanzzz |      ALTER
 cassandra | cassandra | role inanzzz |       DROP
 cassandra | cassandra | role inanzzz |  AUTHORIZE

#cassandra #go