Ideal Authentication in your JavaScript Application

From this talk, you'll know how to implement a secure and reliable authentication mechanism in your JavaScript applications.
I'll go through popular "Authentication as a Service" providers and show how you can use them in JavaScript applications.
Finally, I'll teach you how to introduce additional security measures to your application, like multi-factor authentication without a hassle.

Transcript

1. Ideal Authentication
   in your JavaScript
   Application
   Meme-driven
   knowledge sharing.
   Volodymyr
   Rudyi
   Almost
   

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2. ABOUT ME
   CEO of AgileVision.io and CTO of Agile Cashflow.
   Professionally developing software for the last 7
   years. Designing architectures for SaaS solutions.
   AWS-Certified Solutions Architect.
   Creates SaaS
   Products
   Is a SaaS
   Product
   

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3. Authentication — a
   process of verifying
   the identity.
   Air Force Photo/Paul Zadach
   

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4. Authorization — a
   process of defining
   access policy for
   some resource.
   

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5. Authentication
   Most likely
   You are
   doing it
   wrong
   

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6. Even if not
   anyway...
   You may
   be in
   danger
   

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7. Before you can authenticate you need to implement
   1. Registration flow.
   2. Password reset flow.
   3. Credentials Validation
   4. Error Handling
   5. Error Messages
   6. Localization
   7. Brute-force attacks protection
   8. Email templates
   

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8. After user authenticates, you need to think about
   1. “Remember me” feature
   2. Deleting or blocking/suspending users
   3. Event log
   4. Anomaly Detection
   5. MFA
   6. Global logout
   7. Scaling
   

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9. Implementation Approaches
   Let’s see...
   I will write it myself
   

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10. Pros
    ● Flexible
    Cons
    ● Huge effort
    ● Difficult to maintain
    ● Requires “low-level”
    testing
    ● Insecure in many
    cases
    ● Not reusable
    Public domain image from Wikimedia.org
    DIY Approach
    Closer Look
    

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11. Popular Tools to Create Custom Authentication
    Passport.js
    

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12. Implementation Approaches
    Let’s see...
    Pre-Packaged Platform
    

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13. Third-party, self-hosted
    Pros
    ● Flexible, especially if
    open-source
    ● Moderate implementation
    effort
    ● Many of bugs made suffer
    other users (Maybe
    those will be fixed)
    

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14. Third-party, self-hosted
    Cons
    ● Learning curve may be
    steep
    ● Proprietary self-hosted
    solutions can be
    expensive
    ● Maintenance required
    ● Vendor lock-in
    

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15. Popular self-hosted authentication providers
    Open-source
    Proprietary
    

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16. Implementation Approaches
    Let’s see...
    AaaS Solution*
    

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17. Authentication as a Service
    Pros
    ● Almost zero time-to-market
    ● Per-user pricing
    ● Low implementation costs
    ● Low maintenance
    ● Tight integration with PaaS where
    applicable
    ● Often compliant with many regulations,
    even local ones
    

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18. Authentication as a Service
    Cons
    ● Vendor lock-in
    ● Per-user pricing
    ● Availability is not under control
    ● A gap in support between you and
    your users. Anything that happens
    on AaaS side can’t be resolved by
    anyone but the owner
    ● Limited customization
    

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19. Popular Authentication Services
    

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20. What you should take into account?
    ● Platforms support
    ● Migration path
    ● Backup options
    ● Compliance
    ● Implementation cost
    ● License/subscription cost
    ● Implementation timeline, including security audits (Hello,
    Google!)
    ● Availability, especially past incidents
    ● Support
    

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21. How to think?
    1. Prefer Authentication as a
    Service over anything else.
    2. Prefer open-source over
    proprietary self-hosted.
    3. Do custom implementation only
    if there is no other choice or it’s
    for testing/PoC
    

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22. Authentication Service Market
    Overview
    

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23. Auth0 Overview
    ● Provided by a company, focused on the authentication and authorization
    service
    ● Integrates well with different platforms and languages
    ● Provides Hosted UI
    ● Client-side and server-side SDKs
    ● MFA Support
    ● Passwordless/OTP sign-in
    ● Self-hosted enterprise version for setups with such
    requirements
    

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24. Auth0 Weaknesses
    ● Standalone product, thus requires additional integration to your infrastructure
    ● Not so fast support for lower tier subscriptions
    ● Powerful, but somewhat complicated
    ● HIPAA and other compliance is available only for enterprise license tier
    

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25. AWS Cognito Overview
    ● Provided as a part of the Amazon Web Services(AWS) Platform
    ● Supports OIDC and SAML Federation
    ● Supports web, iOS and Android clients
    ● Provides client-side and server-side SDKs
    ● Deeply integrated with AWS services and can issue tokens to access
    ● Supports Hosted UI
    ● Supports MFA
    ● HIPAA, PCI DSS compliant out of the box
    ● OIDC and SAML Support
    

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26. AWS Cognito Weaknesses
    ● Hosted UI is not very customizable. Only logo and several colors can be
    changed
    ● There is no such thing as action email/action link, besides the standard
    registration/reset flow. Invitation emails are not first class citizens
    ● API is very slow
    ● Default API rate limits are low
    ● Search API is not usable, unless you are happy with basic search capabilities
    by name and email
    ● Too few “ready-to-use” integrations for external systems
    

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27. Firebase Overview
    ● Integrates well with the Firebase(obviously)
    ● Provides SDKs for many platforms, including C++ and Unity
    ● Flexible email configuration and email actions
    

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28. Firebase Weaknesses
    ● HIPAA Compliance (there are workaro
    ● No SAML support out-of-the-box
    

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29. Live coding session
    Almost
    

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30. Flutter and Svelte
    Auth0
    Example
    

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31. Flutter
    Example from
    https://github.com/devdennysegura/flutter-auth0
    

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32. Vue App
    

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33. Public domain image from Wikimedia.org
    Bonus Slide
    Pricing Comparison. Rough Estimates
    Auth0
    AWS
    Cognito
    Okta Firebase
    1K $23/mo $0/mo $0/mo Free*
    10K $228/mo $0/mo $200/mo Free*
    50K $1140/mo $0/mo $1000/m
    o
    Free*
    

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34. Questions?
    

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35. Thanks!
    volodymyr@agilevision.io
    https://agilevision.io
    

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