Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an essential security measure that adds an extra layer of security to your applications. It requires users to provide additional information beyond their username and password when they log in, such as a one-time password or biometric authentication data.
React is an incredibly popular and powerful JavaScript library, and when combined with other tools, is capable of implementing a 2FA system. In this blog post, we'll discuss how to set up a two-factor authentication system using a combination of React, Express.js, and Firebase.
To get started, we’ll need to create a Firebase project and add the Firebase Authentication API to it. The Authentication API allows us to easily authenticate our users.
Once we’ve set up the Firebase project, we’ll need to create an authentication page using React. This page will ask users to register their information, such as an email address and password, so that they can log in to the application.
After the user registration process is complete, we’ll need to add two-factor authentication to our application. This can be done by sending an authentication token to the user’s registered email address. The token is a random string of characters that can be used by the application to verify the user’s identity.
When the user attempts to log in with their username and password, they will also be asked to enter the authentication token. If the token matches the one generated by the application, then the user will be allowed to log in.
We can use the Firebase SDK’s sendPasswordResetEmail()method to send the authentication token to the user. This method takes in an email address and a callback function as parameters. When the method is called, the user will be sent an email containing the authentication token.
Next, we need to add a method to verify the authentication token that the user enters. We can do this by making a POST request to the verifyToken endpoint of our backend. The endpoint will receive the authentication token and the user’s ID as parameters and will then verify the token.
If the token matches, then the authentication process is successful and we can allow the user to log in. Otherwise, we’ll show an error message and ask the user to re-enter the authentication token or to try again later.
By using React, Express.js, and Firebase, we’ve been able to create a powerful two-factor authentication system for our application. With two-factor authentication, we can make sure that only legitimate users can access our application, which can help to protect our applications from malicious actors.