What is the difference between a session and a token? (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between a session and a token? ›

A session is a temporary interaction between a user and a system, preserving stateful information. A token is a unique identifier granting access rights, often used for authentication or authorization, and can persist across sessions.

They're usually stored securely on the authorization server itself. Refresh tokens work with access tokens to facilitate long-lived sessions without repeated logins. Refresh tokens are not useful independently from access tokens – they are used exclusively in relation to them.

A session token is a mechanism that lets your embedded app authenticate the requests that it makes between the client side and your app's backend.

A user begins typing a query to search for "Paris, France". Upon detecting user input, the app creates a new session token, "Token A". When the user makes a selection: All requests resulting from the query are grouped and added to the session represented by "Token A", as a single request.

CSRF tokens should be generated on the server-side and they should be generated only once per user session or each request. Because the time range for an attacker to exploit the stolen tokens is minimal for per-request tokens, they are more secure than per-session tokens.

A session is a temporary interaction between a user and a system, preserving stateful information. A token is a unique identifier granting access rights, often used for authentication or authorization, and can persist across sessions.

The main purpose of using a refresh token is to considerably shorten the life of an access token. The refresh token can then later be used to authenticate the user as and when required by the application without running into problems such as cookies being blocked, etc.

Understanding Session Tokens

Session tokens play a crucial role in maintaining state between the client and server. Unlike cookies, which can store data client-side, session tokens typically consist of unique identifiers that reference user session data stored on the server.

Access (login) token expiration

Default duration is 1 hour. Valid durations are 15 minutes to 24 hours.

In practice, the main security concern when using sessionStorage to store tokens is XSS. If your application is vulnerable to XSS, attackers can exfiltrate the token from the storage and replay it in API calls. Consequently, session storage is not suitable for storing sensitive data such as tokens.

What is an example of a token? ›

a memento; souvenir; keepsake: The seashell was a token of their trip. something used to indicate authenticity, authority, etc.; emblem; badge: Judicial robes are a token of office.

Tokens and points can come in many forms. An everyday example is a paycheck. To earn a paycheck, you need to go to work and complete your job responsibilities (behavior); in turn, you receive money (tokens) for working; and you can exchange this money for a nearly unlimited number of reinforcing items (choices).

The following get-session-token command retrieves a set of short-term credentials for the IAM identity making the call. The resulting credentials can be used for requests where multi-factor authentication (MFA) is required by policy. The credentials expire 15 minutes after they are generated.

A session token is an identifier that a person receives after successful authentication. Stored in a cookie or included in the URL, it allows the server to recognize the user for personalized services.

The session token, also known as a sessionID, is an encrypted, unique string that identifies the specific session instance. If the session token is known to a protected resource such as an application, the application can access the session and all user information contained in it.

Choosing between JWT and session-based authentication depends on your application's specific needs. If you prioritize statelessness and scalability, JWT might be your go-to. For traditional applications where immediate control over sessions is crucial, session-based authentication holds the upper hand.

A refresh token is a special token that is used to obtain more access tokens. This allows you to have short-lived access tokens without having to collect credentials every time one expires.

A refresh token just helps you re-validate a user without them having to re-enter their login credentials multiple times. The access token is re-issued, provided the refresh token is a valid one requesting permission to access confidential resources.

Token authentication needs a more manual setup as compared to cookie authentication. But it also helps the user overcome the cookie-based approach's flaws. In this method, the client/browser receives an encrypted token from the server after it has verified the user's login details.

The API returns a short-lived token (JWT), which expires in 15 minutes, and in HTTP cookies, the refresh token expires in 7 days. JWT is currently used for accessing secure ways on API, whereas a refresh token generates another new JWT access token when it expires or even before.