Dynamic

Secure Cookies vs SameSite Cookies

Developers should implement secure cookies whenever handling sensitive user data, such as login sessions, personal identifiers, or payment information, to comply with security best practices and regulations like GDPR or PCI DSS 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.

🧊Nice Pick

Secure Cookies

Developers should implement secure cookies whenever handling sensitive user data, such as login sessions, personal identifiers, or payment information, to comply with security best practices and regulations like GDPR or PCI DSS

Secure Cookies

Nice Pick

Developers should implement secure cookies whenever handling sensitive user data, such as login sessions, personal identifiers, or payment information, to comply with security best practices and regulations like GDPR or PCI DSS

Pros

  • +They are essential for web applications that require user authentication, e-commerce sites, or any service where data privacy is critical, as they mitigate risks like session hijacking and data breaches
  • +Related to: http-cookies, https

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 Secure Cookies if: You want they are essential for web applications that require user authentication, e-commerce sites, or any service where data privacy is critical, as they mitigate risks like session hijacking and data breaches 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 Secure Cookies offers.

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The Bottom Line
Secure Cookies wins

Developers should implement secure cookies whenever handling sensitive user data, such as login sessions, personal identifiers, or payment information, to comply with security best practices and regulations like GDPR or PCI DSS

Disagree with our pick? nice@nicepick.dev