Qualys User Account
The application must authenticate using Qualys account credentials (user name and password) as part of the HTTP request. The credentials are transmitted using the “Basic Authentication Scheme” over HTTPS.
For more information, see the “Basic Authentication Scheme” section of RFC #2617:
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2617.html
The exact method of implementing authentication will vary according to which programming language is used.
Basic authentication - recommended option:
curl -u "USERNAME:PASSWORD" https://qualysapi.qualys.com/qps/rest/1.0/download/cm/alert
where qualysapi.qualys.com is the base URL to the Qualys API server where your account is located.