Derby allows you to set a few advanced JNDI properties, which you can set in any of the supported ways of setting Derby properties. Typically you would set these at the same level (database or system) for which you configured the external authentication service.
The list of supported properties can be found in Appendix A: JNDI Context Environment in the Java Naming and Directory API at http://java.sun.com/products/jndi/reference/api/index.html. The external directory service must support the property.
Each JNDI provider has its set of properties that you can set within the Derby system.
For example, you can set the property java.naming.security.authentication to allow user credentials to be encrypted on the network if the provider supports it. You can also specify that SSL be used with LDAP (LDAPS).