Best Practices for Securing Node.js Applications in Production

Node.js is a popular technology for backend development, but its growing use has made it a target for online attacks, highlighting the importance of securing Node.js applications. The guide outlines 15 best practices to enhance security in Node.js applications, emphasizing the protection of user data, safeguarding application functionality, and preserving reputation. Key recommendations include avoiding root privileges, updating NPM libraries regularly, customizing session cookie names, setting secure HTTP headers with Helmet, implementing rate limiting to prevent DDoS attacks, enforcing strong authentication policies, and monitoring the backend with Application Performance Monitoring tools. Additional measures involve adopting HTTPS-only policies, validating user input, using security linters, preventing SQL injection, limiting request sizes, detecting vulnerabilities with automated tools, and facilitating vulnerability reporting through standardized methods like security.txt. These strategies collectively aim to mitigate risks and ensure a secure architecture for Node.js applications in production.