NodeJS & React Authentication: JWT, Role-Based Access, 2FA

Description:

In today’s world, secure authentication is no longer optional — it’s essential. Whether you're building a startup product, working on enterprise-level software, or simply looking to strengthen your development skills, knowing how to implement authentication and authorization properly is a must.

This course is your complete guide to implementing a modern, secure, and scalable authentication system using Node.js for the backend and React for the frontend. We’ll walk through real-world practices for handling user login, registration, protected routes, user roles, and advanced security features like 2-Factor Authentication (2FA).

You’ll begin by learning the foundations of JWT (JSON Web Tokens), how to generate and verify access and refresh tokens, and how to store them securely. Then, we’ll dive deep into Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) — giving different permissions to users based on roles like admin, moderator, or customer. You’ll learn how to build APIs that enforce these rules safely and efficiently.

To take things further, we’ll implement Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) using TOTP (Time-based One-Time Passwords). Users will be able to scan a QR code with an app like Google Authenticator and input time-based codes during login, significantly boosting security.

This course doesn’t just show you how to implement things — it explains why each step is important and how to avoid common pitfalls in building secure systems. You’ll follow best practices in both backend and frontend development, and understand the real-world considerations behind authentication systems: token expiration, token rotation, cookie vs localStorage, refresh token reuse detection, and more.