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Authentication

This section covers the fundamentals of authentication in web applications, including the difference between authentication and authorization, session management, and common protocols like OAuth and OpenID Connect.

Understanding authentication is crucial for securing your Next.js applications. It ensures that only legitimate users can access protected resources and helps prevent common security vulnerabilities.

  • What is authentication?
  • Authentication vs Authorization
  • Session vs JWT
  • Cookies in authentication
  • Authentication flow

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

  • Explain the difference between authentication and authorization
  • Describe how sessions and JWTs work
  • Implement basic authentication in Next.js
  • Use cookies securely for session management
  • Understand the OAuth and OpenID Connect flows
  • Auth.js integration
  • Social login (Google, GitHub)
  • Protecting routes
  • Role-based access control