# Security Best Practices

Guidelines to help secure all authentication strategies.

## Tokens

* Treat verification and reset tokens as secrets
* Use short TTLs and enforce single-use, delete temp token from the database after redeeming
* Do not log tokens; avoid storing them in cleartext
* After validating a token from a URL, redirect to remove it from the address bar

## Passwords

* Hash passwords server-side using a modern algorithm
* Never transmit or store plaintext passwords
* Enforce minimum complexity and length
* If you build an admin-reset workflow, prefer a reset-link flow or force a password change at next login

## Cookies & Sessions

* Keep session duration short; rotate on privilege changes
* Do not store sensitive user data in cookies
* Use secure cookie attributes where possible and keep cookie lifetimes short

## Pages & Actions

* Require authentication for restricted pages
* Validate required fields before running auth actions (e.g., email, password)
* Surface auth feedback to the user in a controlled way using `model.authMessage`, `model.authMessageCode`, or `model.authMessageType`

## Hooks

* Use `onAuthNotifier` script for sending verification and reset emails from your server
* Centralize business rules in `onLogin` and `onRegistration` where appropriate

## Operational Considerations

* Monitor for repeated failures and lock or throttle as needed (roll your own)

## Related Pages

* [Authentication](/reference/authentication.md)
* [Custom Login Pages](/reference/authentication/custom-login-pages.md)
* [Query & Cookie Based Auth](/reference/authentication/query-cookie-auth.md)


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