There are ways to expose environment variables to front-end code in the browser. There are packages like dotenv that allow you to configure environment variables in files. You can configure them when you host a site using a platform like Heroku or Netlify. You can also set them in your terminal environment manually.

Web Security 101 - Part 1: Secrets

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JWTs are the most popularly used tokens for web authentication and managing user sessions in modern-day software applications. They are a standardized format for securely transferring cryptographically signed data across systems. JWTs can make websites vulnerable to a variety of high-security threats and attacks if not managed properly.

How JWTs Could Be Dangerous and Its Alternatives

System Weakness

A JWT consists of 3 parts: a header, a payload, and a signature. JWT attacks involve a user sending modified JWTs to the server in order to achieve a malicious goal. The data of header & payload can be easily read or modified by anyone with access to the token.

How to test for JWT attacks?

An open standard for securely transmitting information between parties as a JSON object. Readers can explore JWT's structure, claims, and cryptographic signatures, as well as its applications in authentication, authorization, and stateless session management in web and mobile applications.

Best of JWT — December 2022