CSRF Tokens vs SameSite Cookies
Developers should implement CSRF tokens in any web application that handles state-changing operations, such as form submissions, API calls for updates, or financial transactions, to enhance security against cross-site request forgery attacks meets developers should learn and use samesite cookies to improve the security of web applications by preventing unauthorized cross-site requests, which is crucial for protecting user sessions and sensitive data. Here's our take.
CSRF Tokens
Developers should implement CSRF tokens in any web application that handles state-changing operations, such as form submissions, API calls for updates, or financial transactions, to enhance security against cross-site request forgery attacks
CSRF Tokens
Nice PickDevelopers should implement CSRF tokens in any web application that handles state-changing operations, such as form submissions, API calls for updates, or financial transactions, to enhance security against cross-site request forgery attacks
Pros
- +They are particularly crucial in applications with user authentication, as they prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions to perform unauthorized actions, making them a standard practice in frameworks like Django, Rails, and Spring Security
- +Related to: web-security, session-management
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
SameSite Cookies
Developers should learn and use SameSite cookies to improve the security of web applications by preventing unauthorized cross-site requests, which is crucial for protecting user sessions and sensitive data
Pros
- +It is particularly important for authentication cookies, where setting SameSite to Strict or Lax can block CSRF attacks, while None (with Secure flag) is used for cross-site scenarios like embedded iframes or third-party integrations
- +Related to: http-cookies, web-security
Cons
- -Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case
The Verdict
Use CSRF Tokens if: You want they are particularly crucial in applications with user authentication, as they prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions to perform unauthorized actions, making them a standard practice in frameworks like django, rails, and spring security and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.
Use SameSite Cookies if: You prioritize it is particularly important for authentication cookies, where setting samesite to strict or lax can block csrf attacks, while none (with secure flag) is used for cross-site scenarios like embedded iframes or third-party integrations over what CSRF Tokens offers.
Developers should implement CSRF tokens in any web application that handles state-changing operations, such as form submissions, API calls for updates, or financial transactions, to enhance security against cross-site request forgery attacks
Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev