diff --git a/lms/envs/common.py b/lms/envs/common.py
index 8a851697c6d6..990e137754fd 100644
--- a/lms/envs/common.py
+++ b/lms/envs/common.py
@@ -3286,6 +3286,13 @@ def _make_locale_paths(settings):  # pylint: disable=missing-function-docstring
 ######################### Django Rest Framework ########################
 
 REST_FRAMEWORK = {
+    # This matches the original DRF default of Session and Basic Authentication, but
+    # adds observability to help us potentially adjust the defaults. We would like to
+    # add JwtAuthentication and drop BasicAuthentication, based on our findings.
+    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': [
+        'openedx.core.djangolib.default_auth_classes.DefaultSessionAuthentication',
+        'openedx.core.djangolib.default_auth_classes.DefaultBasicAuthentication'
+    ],
     'DEFAULT_PAGINATION_CLASS': 'edx_rest_framework_extensions.paginators.DefaultPagination',
     'DEFAULT_RENDERER_CLASSES': (
         'rest_framework.renderers.JSONRenderer',
@@ -3303,7 +3310,7 @@ def _make_locale_paths(settings):  # pylint: disable=missing-function-docstring
 
 # .. setting_name: REGISTRATION_VALIDATION_RATELIMIT
 # .. setting_default: 30/7d
-# .. setting_description: Whenver a user tries to register on edx, the data entered during registration
+# .. setting_description: Whenever a user tries to register on edx, the data entered during registration
 #    is validated via RegistrationValidationView.
 #    It's POST endpoint is rate-limited up to 30 requests per IP Address in a week by default.
 #    It was introduced because an attacker can guess or brute force a series of names to enumerate valid users.
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangolib/default_auth_classes.py b/openedx/core/djangolib/default_auth_classes.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..238993c7aa8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openedx/core/djangolib/default_auth_classes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+"""
+Default Authentication classes that are ONLY meant to be used by
+DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES for observability purposes.
+"""
+from edx_django_utils.monitoring import set_custom_attribute
+from edx_rest_framework_extensions.auth.jwt.authentication import JwtAuthentication
+from rest_framework.authentication import BasicAuthentication, SessionAuthentication
+
+
+class DefaultSessionAuthentication(SessionAuthentication):
+    """ Default SessionAuthentication with observability """
+
+    def authenticate(self, request):
+        # .. custom_attribute_name: using_default_auth_classes
+        # .. custom_attribute_description: This custom attribute will always be
+        #     True (if not NULL), and signifies that a default authentication
+        #     class was used. This can be used to find endpoints using the
+        #     default authentication classes.
+        set_custom_attribute('using_default_auth_classes', True)
+
+        try:
+            user_and_auth = super().authenticate(request)
+            if user_and_auth:
+                # .. custom_attribute_name: session_auth_result
+                # .. custom_attribute_description: The result of session auth, represented
+                #      by: 'success', 'failure', or 'skipped'.
+                set_custom_attribute('session_auth_result', 'success')
+            else:
+                set_custom_attribute('session_auth_result', 'skipped')
+            return user_and_auth
+        except Exception as exception:
+            set_custom_attribute('session_auth_result', 'failure')
+            raise
+
+
+class DefaultBasicAuthentication(BasicAuthentication):
+    """
+    Default BasicAuthentication with observability
+
+    Note that BasicAuthentication was a default because it was a DRF default.
+    Observability will be used to determine if BasicAuthentication could
+    instead be dropped as a default.
+    """
+
+    def authenticate(self, request):
+        # .. custom_attribute_name: using_default_auth_classes
+        # .. custom_attribute_description: This custom attribute will always be
+        #     True (if not NULL), and signifies that a default authentication
+        #     class was used. This can be used to find endpoints using the
+        #     default authentication classes.
+        set_custom_attribute('using_default_auth_classes', True)
+
+        try:
+            user_and_auth = super().authenticate(request)
+            if user_and_auth:
+                # .. custom_attribute_name: basic_auth_result
+                # .. custom_attribute_description: The result of basic auth, represented
+                #      by: 'success', 'failure', or 'skipped'.
+                set_custom_attribute('basic_auth_result', 'success')
+            else:
+                set_custom_attribute('basic_auth_result', 'skipped')
+            return user_and_auth
+        except Exception as exception:
+            set_custom_attribute('basic_auth_result', 'failure')
+            raise
+
+
+class DefaultJwtAuthentication(JwtAuthentication):
+    """
+    Default JwtAuthentication with observability
+
+    Note that the plan is to add JwtAuthentication as a default, but it
+    is not yet used. This class will be used during the transition.
+    """
+
+    def authenticate(self, request):
+        # .. custom_attribute_name: using_default_auth_classes
+        # .. custom_attribute_description: This custom attribute will always be
+        #     True (if not NULL), and signifies that a default authentication
+        #     class was used. This can be used to find endpoints using the
+        #     default authentication classes.
+        set_custom_attribute('using_default_auth_classes', True)
+
+        # Unlike the other DRF authentication classes, JwtAuthentication already
+        # includes a jwt_auth_result custom attribute, so we do not need to
+        # reimplement that observability in this class.
+        return super().authenticate(request)