diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 3a9bae5b..30cf9490 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
         "psr/http-server-middleware": "^1.0"
     },
     "require-dev": {
+        "cakephp/cakephp": "^4.0",
         "cakephp/cakephp-codesniffer": "^4.0",
         "firebase/php-jwt": "^5.0",
         "phpunit/phpunit": "^8.5 || ^9.3"
diff --git a/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php b/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php
index 60d04c79..b835c668 100644
--- a/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php
+++ b/src/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponent.php
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ class AuthenticationComponent extends Component implements EventDispatcherInterf
      * - `requireIdentity` - By default AuthenticationComponent will require an
      *   identity to be present whenever it is active. You can set the option to
      *   false to disable that behavior. See allowUnauthenticated() as well.
+     * - `unauthenticatedMessage` - Error message to use when `UnauthenticatedException` is thrown.
      *
      * @var array
      */
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ class AuthenticationComponent extends Component implements EventDispatcherInterf
         'requireIdentity' => true,
         'identityAttribute' => 'identity',
         'identityCheckEvent' => 'Controller.startup',
+        'unauthenticatedMessage' => null,
     ];
 
     /**
@@ -172,9 +174,7 @@ protected function doIdentityCheck(): void
 
         $identity = $request->getAttribute($this->getConfig('identityAttribute'));
         if (!$identity) {
-            throw new UnauthenticatedException(
-                'No identity found. You can skip this check by configuring  `requireIdentity` to be `false`.'
-            );
+            throw new UnauthenticatedException($this->getConfig('unauthenticatedMessage', ''));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php b/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php
index 6a4732b3..a8bfcd94 100644
--- a/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php
+++ b/tests/TestCase/Controller/Component/AuthenticationComponentTest.php
@@ -498,10 +498,31 @@ public function testIdentityCheckInBeforeFilter()
         $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
 
         $this->expectException(UnauthenticatedException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage('Authentication is required to continue');
         $this->expectExceptionCode(401);
 
         $component->setConfig('identityCheckEvent', 'Controller.initialize');
         $component->allowUnauthenticated(['index', 'add']);
         $component->beforeFilter();
     }
+
+    public function testCustomUnauthenticatedMessage()
+    {
+        $request = $this->request
+            ->withAttribute('authentication', $this->service);
+
+        $controller = new Controller($request, $this->response);
+        $registry = new ComponentRegistry($controller);
+        $component = new AuthenticationComponent($registry);
+
+        $errorMessage = 'You shall not pass!';
+        $this->expectException(UnauthenticatedException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage($errorMessage);
+        $this->expectExceptionCode(401);
+
+        $component->setConfig('identityCheckEvent', 'Controller.initialize');
+        $component->setConfig('unauthenticatedMessage', $errorMessage);
+        $component->allowUnauthenticated(['index', 'add']);
+        $component->beforeFilter();
+    }
 }