This project implements basic authentication features: a user can sign up for an account with a username and password, and gain access to an authenticated page when logged in.
The passwords are never stored directly in the database as text, instead we run the password through a hashing function first and then store the result in the database. Hushing functions are functions that map input data of some arbitrary size to fixed-size output values, and they are one-way functions that are infeasible to invert. BCRYPT is one of few commonly used password hashing functions (which is used in this project).
In the real-world application, salting is an extra step that we take when we’re hashing a password to make it harder to reverse. It refers to the practice of adding random information to a password at the beginning or at the end before we hash it. It will radically change the output to ensure unique hashes and mitigate common attacks.
1️⃣ Run the command below to install packages used in the project:
$ npm install
2️⃣ Install nodemon globally so that it'll restart the application when changes are made to the project:
$ npm install -g nodemon
3️⃣ Run nodemon index in the terminal to start the server, and connect to http//localhost:3000/register in the web browser.
This project is based on the authentication tutorial of The Web Developer Bootcamp by Colt Steele.