Authentication App (Website Live - https://passpostauth.onrender.com)

This is a web application that demonstrates user authentication using Passport.js, an authentication middleware for Node.js. The application allows users to register, log in, and access a secrets page if authenticated. It also provides an option to authenticate using a Google account.

Technologies Used

The application is built using the following technologies and frameworks:

• Node.js: A JavaScript runtime environment for server-side development.
• Express.js: A web application framework for Node.js that provides a set of features for building web applications and APIs.
• MongoDB: A NoSQL database used for storing user information and authentication data.
• Mongoose: An Object-Data Mapping (ODM) library for MongoDB and Node.js, providing a higher-level abstraction for interacting with the database.
• EJS (Embedded JavaScript): A templating language used for generating HTML markup with JavaScript.
• Passport.js: An authentication middleware for Node.js that provides a flexible and modular authentication system, supporting various strategies such as local authentication and OAuth.
• Passport-local-mongoose: A Passport.js plugin for simplifying local authentication using Mongoose.
• Passport-google-oauth20: A Passport.js strategy for authenticating with Google using OAuth 2.0.
• express-session: A middleware for Express.js that enables session management and persistent session storage.
• dotenv: A module for loading environment variables from a .env file into process.env.
• Body-parser: A middleware for parsing the request body in Express.js.
• mongoose-findorcreate: A plugin for Mongoose that adds a convenient method for finding or creating a document based on a query.

Functionality

The application provides the following functionality:

1. Home Page ("/"): Serves as the landing page for the application.

2. Registration Page ("/register"): Allows users to register for a new account by providing a username and password.

3. Login Page ("/login"): Allows registered users to log in using their username and password.

4. Google Authentication: Provides the option to authenticate using a Google account by clicking the "Sign in with Google" button on the login page. This feature utilizes Google OAuth 2.0.

5. Secrets Page ("/secrets"): A protected route accessible only to authenticated users. If a user is not logged in, they will be redirected to the login page.

6. Logout ("/logout"): Allows users to log out of their accounts.

Security Enhancements (Branches)

The repository mentioned in the readme contains additional branches that showcase different security enhancements made to the application. These branches are:

1. 2_encryption: Demonstrates the use of encryption techniques to secure sensitive user information.

2. 3_Password_Hashing: Showcases password hashing, a secure method for storing and comparing passwords.

3. 4_Salting: Demonstrates the use of password salting, an additional security measure for password hashing.

4. 5_Cookies_and_Session: Introduces the use of cookies and sessions to enhance the user authentication process. This branch is live and hosted on https://passpostauth.onrender.com for reviewing purposes.

Each branch builds upon the previous one, incrementally improving the security of user authentication and data storage.

Repository

The app's source code and branches can be found on the GitHub repository at Authentication. Feel free to explore the different branches to review the security enhancements and implementation details.

Live Demo

For a live demonstration of the app with the latest security enhancements, you can visit https://passpostauth.onrender.com.

Please note that this is a demo environment, and it may not be suitable for production use.