CSRF Protection
CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) protection is a security mechanism that prevents attackers from tricking users into performing unwanted actions on web applications where they are authenticated. It works by requiring requests to include a unique, unpredictable token that is validated server-side, ensuring that the request originated from the legitimate application and not a malicious site. This is essential for protecting state-changing operations like form submissions, API calls, or financial transactions.
Developers should implement CSRF protection whenever building web applications that handle user authentication and sensitive actions, such as banking sites, e-commerce platforms, or social media apps, to prevent attackers from exploiting logged-in sessions. It is particularly critical for applications using cookie-based authentication, as browsers automatically include cookies in requests, making them vulnerable to CSRF attacks without proper safeguards. Modern web frameworks like Django, Spring Security, and Laravel include built-in CSRF protection features that developers should enable and configure appropriately.