Email and password

This site is interactive. You just press the log in or sign up button and create an account. Use this companion guide to explore authentication features.

Passwords are your first line of defense, but storing them improperly is a disaster waiting to happen.

Here’s how I ensure your application uses the best practices in password management.

Enforce complexity

Requiring complex passwords might feel tedious for users, but it’s a critical defense mechanism against brute force attacks. A strong password:

Drastically Increases Search Space: Longer and more complex passwords with a mix of uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols make brute-forcing exponentially harder.
Reduces Guessability: Prevents attackers from easily predicting weak or commonly used passwords.

Hashing

Passwords are never stored in plain text. Instead, they are hashed using algorithms like bcrypt or Argon2.

One-Way Transformation: Hashing turns the password into a fixed-length string that can’t be reversed.
Resistant to Attacks: Even if the database is compromised, the hashed passwords are useless without extreme computational power.

Adding Salt

A salt is a unique random string added to each password before it’s hashed.

Prevents Rainbow Table Attacks: Salting ensures that even identical passwords produce different hashes.
Individualized Security: Every user’s password hash is unique, even if they use the same password.

Sprinkling Some Pepper

A pepper is a secret value stored outside the database. It provides an extra layer of security. Even if the database and salts are exposed, the pepper remains hidden.

Why This Matters for Startups

Startups often move fast, but security can’t be an afterthought. A well-implemented email and password system:

Builds trust with your users.
Reduces the risk of data breaches.
Gives you a solid foundation to integrate advanced authentication methods later.

Let’s work together to build authentication that’s secure, scalable, and startup-friendly!