Steps to Build a Secure Node JS REST API
- Step 1: Create the Required Directories.
- Step 2: Create your First App Express API.
- Step 3: Creating the User Module.
- Step 4: Creating the Auth Module.
3.11.2021
How do I make my REST API secure?
2. Best Practices to Secure REST APIs
- 2.1. Keep it Simple. Secure an API/System – just how secure it needs to be.
- 2.2. Always Use HTTPS.
- 2.3. Use Password Hash.
- 2.4. Never expose information on URLs.
- 2.5. Consider OAuth.
- 2.6. Consider Adding Timestamp in Request.
- 2.7. Input Parameter Validation.
How do I secure express API?
Security best practices for Express applications in production include:
- Don’t use deprecated or vulnerable versions of Express.
- Use TLS.
- Use Helmet.
- Use cookies securely.
- Prevent brute-force attacks against authorization.
- Ensure your dependencies are secure.
- Avoid other known vulnerabilities.
- Additional considerations.
Is node js GOOD FOR REST API?
Node. js is mature and it powers services for some huge companies like LinkedIn, Walmart, eBay, PayPal, Yahoo and others. Finally, I’d like to say that our experience also proves that Node. js is a great choice to construct REST API.
Does REST API have security?
REST APIs use HTTP and support Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption. TLS is a standard that keeps an internet connection private and checks that the data sent between two systems (a server and a server, or a server and a client) is encrypted and unmodified.
Is JWT the same as OAuth?
JWT and OAuth2 are entirely different and serve different purposes, but they are compatible and can be used together. The OAuth2 protocol does not specify the format of the tokens, therefore JWTs can be incorporated into the usage of OAuth2.
How do I create a secure JWT token?
Issuing a token
- Always sign the token.
- Use strong cryptography.
- Set expiration date and unique identifier.
- Set the issuer and audience.
- Don’t include sensitive data unless you encrypt the payload.
- Don’t accept unsigned tokens.
- Validate header claims.
- Always validate issuer and audience.
Why is node js not secure?
Since the Node. js ecosystem comprises various modules and libraries to install, this produces a security issue. Using the code someone has written or used before, you can never be sure that the code is secure. Automated vulnerability scanning will help you detect dependencies with common Node.
How do I authenticate API in node JS?
Authenticate REST APIs in Node JS using JWT (Json Web Tokens)
- Step 0 — Setup Express JS app.
- Step 1 — Register a new User.
- Step 2 — Authenticate Users and return JWT tokens.
- Step 3 — Understanding the accessToken and refreshToken model.
- Step 4 — Retire Refresh Tokens.
How many types of API functions are there in NodeJS?
The two types of API functions in Node. js are: Asynchronous, non-blocking functions. Synchronous, blocking functions.
Is NodeJS synchronous or asynchronous?
NodeJS is an asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime environment designed to build scalable network applications. Asynchronous here refers to all those functions in JavaScript that are processed in the background without blocking any other request.
What is better than JWT?
PASETO, or Platform Agnostic Security Token is one of the most successful designs that is being widely accepted by the community as the best-secured alternative to JWT.
Should I use OAuth or JWT?
If you want to do real logout you must go with OAuth2. Authentication with JWT token can not logout actually. Because you don’t have an Authentication Server that keeps track of tokens. If you want to provide an API to 3rd party clients, you must use OAuth2 also.
How do I encrypt a JWT token in node JS?
email }; //Sign the JWT token and populate the payload with the user email and id const token = jwt. sign({ user: body }, PRIV_KEY, { algorithm: ‘RS256’ }); //Send back the token to the user return res. json({ token }); }); } catch (error) { return next(error); } })(req, res, next); });
Is JWT really secure?
In security processes, authentication validates a user’s identity, it also grants that user permission to access a resource. JWT is a stateless session, so it does not need to be saved in a database in the server-side like cookies, it only exists in the client side.
Is Nodejs secure?
Node. js is one such technology that developers use for web application development. It is designed to be completely secure.
How do I use Express JWT in node JS?
API development using JWT token for authentication in Node. js
- Step 1 – Create a directory and initialize npm.
- Step 2 – Create files and directories.
- Step 3 – Install dependencies.
- Step 4 – Create a Node.
- Step 5 – Create user model and route.
- Step 6 – Implement register and login functionality.
Is NPM secure?
The company claims it found more than 1,300 malicious npm packages in 2021 in npm. That’s bad, but 1,300 out of 1.8-million is only 0.007222%. If you were to just randomly grab JavaScript packages for your program, odds are you’ll be safe.
What are the security mechanisms available in node js?
Authentication is one of the primary security stages at which user is identified as permitted to access the application at all. Authentication verifies the user’s identity through one or several checks. In Node. js, authentication can be either session-based or token-based.
What is difference between bearer token and JWT?
In essence, a JSON Web Token (JWT) is a bearer token. It’s a particular implementation which has been specified and standardised. JWT in particular uses cryptography to encode a timestamp and some other parameters. This way, you can check if it’s valid by just decrypting it, without hitting a DB.
How do I create an authentication in node JS?
Node. js User Authentication Guide
- Introduction. Creating a user registration form employs the management of the registered user.
- Goal. This tutorial helps you:
- Prerequisites. You have installed the following:
- Set Up a Mongo Database.
- Set Up the Server.
- Connect to the Database.
- Create User Schema.
- Perform CRUD Operations.
What is RESTful API?
RESTful API is an interface that two computer systems use to exchange information securely over the internet. Most business applications have to communicate with other internal and third-party applications to perform various tasks.
What is REST API in Javascript?
A REST API is a way of easily accessing web services. When a RESTful API is called, the server will transfer to the client a representation of the state of the requested resource.
Why node is single threaded?
Confusing JavaScript and Node.
It is important to not say Node. js is single-threaded because the JavaScript programming language is single-threaded.
Is node js client or server side?
Node. js is a server-side JavaScript run-time environment. It’s open-source, including Google’s V8 engine, libuv for cross-platform compatibility, and a core library.
How do I handle multiple requests in node JS?
How NodeJS handle multiple client requests? NodeJS receives multiple client requests and places them into EventQueue. NodeJS is built with the concept of event-driven architecture. NodeJS has its own EventLoop which is an infinite loop that receives requests and processes them.
How do I authenticate a REST API request?
Users of the REST API can authenticate by providing a user ID and password to the REST API login resource with the HTTP POST method. An LTPA token is generated that enables the user to authenticate future requests. This LTPA token has the prefix LtpaToken2 .
What is OAuth in node JS?
OAuth2 is an authentication protocol that is used to authenticate and authorize users in an application by using another service provider. This post will go through how to build a Node. js application to implement the OAuth2 protocol. If you just want to see the code, you can view it here.
To authenticate a user, a client application must send a JSON Web Token (JWT) in the authorization header of the HTTP request to your backend API. API Gateway validates the token on behalf of your API, so you don’t have to add any code in your API to process the authentication.
Which is better JWT or passport?
It seems that Passport with 15.9K GitHub stars and 936 forks on GitHub has more adoption than JSON Web Token with 2.59K GitHub stars and 259 GitHub forks.
Who invented JWT?
JSON Web Token
Abbreviation | JWT |
---|---|
Authors | Michael B. Jones Microsoft John Bradley Ping Identity Nat Sakimura NRI |
Base standards | JSON JSON Web Encryption (JWE) JSON Web Signature (JWS) |
Domain | Data exchange |
Website | datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7519 |
What is the difference between OAuth and OAuth2?
OAuth 2.0 is much more usable, but much more difficult to build securely. Much more flexible. OAuth 1.0 only handled web workflows, but OAuth 2.0 considers non-web clients as well.
What is difference between OAuth and bearer token?
Bearer tokens are for OAuth2 authentication. A bearer token is an encoded value that generally contains the user ID, authenticated token and a timetamp. It is most commonly used in REST APIs. If the API supports OAuth2 then it’ll use a bearer token.
How do I create a secure JWT token?
Issuing a token
- Always sign the token.
- Use strong cryptography.
- Set expiration date and unique identifier.
- Set the issuer and audience.
- Don’t include sensitive data unless you encrypt the payload.
- Don’t accept unsigned tokens.
- Validate header claims.
- Always validate issuer and audience.
What happens if JWT is stolen?
Generally speaking, this is nice, but what happens if your entire JWT is stolen? Because JWTs are used to identify the client, if one is stolen or compromised, the attacker has full access to the user’s account in the same way they would if the attacker had compromised the user’s username and password instead.
Should I send JWT every request?
When working with JWT (JSON Web Token) on the client side, you need to send with every request the token to your server. The most common way is to send the token via the Authorization header with the Bearer authentication scheme.
How is JWT encrypted?
RSA is a popular algorithm for asymmetric (public key) encryption that was established more than 40 years ago. Encrypting a JWT for a given recipient requires their public RSA key. The decryption takes place with the corresponding private RSA key, which the recipient must keep secret at all times.
Which algorithm is used for JWT?
JWTs are most commonly signed using one of two algorithms: HS256 (HMAC using SHA256), and RS256 (RSA using SHA256).
Does JWT need to be encrypted?
JWTs can be signed using a secret (with the HMAC algorithm) or a public/private key pair using RSA or ECDSA. Although JWTs can be encrypted to also provide secrecy between parties, we will focus on signed tokens.
What is the most secure way of authenticating an API?
Every web API should use TLS (Transport Layer Security). TLS protects the information your API sends (and the information that users send to your API) by encrypting your messages while they’re in transit. You might know TLS by its predecessor’s name, SSL.
How do I encrypt REST API data?
Since REST APIs use HTTP, encryption can be achieved by using the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol or its previous iteration, the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. These protocols supply the S in “HTTPS” (“S” meaning “secure”) and are the standard for encrypting web pages and REST API communications.
What is node js not good for?
Node. js doesn’t support multi-threaded programming yet. It is able to serve way more complicated applications than Ruby, but it’s not suitable for performing long-running calculations. Heavy computations block the incoming requests, which can lead to decrease of performance .
Is node js more secure than PHP?
Node. js is fast and lightweight. It is more secure than PHP.
Where is JWT token stored?
A JWT needs to be stored in a safe place inside the user’s browser. Any way,you shouldn’t store a JWT in local storage (or session storage). If you store it in a LocalStorage/SessionStorage then it can be easily grabbed by an XSS attack. If the answer is helpful, please click “Accept Answer” and upvote it.
Where are JWT tokens stored node JS?
First we will create our jwt and then we will store it in a cookie called “access_token”. The cookie will have some options, such as httpOnly (to be used during the development of the application) and secure (to be used during the production environment, with https).
How do you protect REST endpoints?
2. Best Practices to Secure REST APIs
- 2.1. Keep it Simple. Secure an API/System – just how secure it needs to be.
- 2.2. Always Use HTTPS.
- 2.3. Use Password Hash.
- 2.4. Never expose information on URLs.
- 2.5. Consider OAuth.
- 2.6. Consider Adding Timestamp in Request.
- 2.7. Input Parameter Validation.
How do I know if a npm package is secure?
How to run npm audit
- Go to the terminal, and on the directory of your installed package, type the following: cd path/to/name-of-package.
- Confirm that the selected package directory has a package-lock.
- Type the following command:
- Review the generated vulnerability report and take action, as appropriate.
Is NPM secure?
The company claims it found more than 1,300 malicious npm packages in 2021 in npm. That’s bad, but 1,300 out of 1.8-million is only 0.007222%. If you were to just randomly grab JavaScript packages for your program, odds are you’ll be safe.
How do I create an authentication in node JS?
Node. js User Authentication Guide
- Introduction. Creating a user registration form employs the management of the registered user.
- Goal. This tutorial helps you:
- Prerequisites. You have installed the following:
- Set Up a Mongo Database.
- Set Up the Server.
- Connect to the Database.
- Create User Schema.
- Perform CRUD Operations.