

However, don't assume that Secure prevents all access to sensitive information in cookies. Insecure sites (with http: in the URL) can't set cookies with the Secure attribute. It's never sent with unsecured HTTP (except on localhost), which means attackers man-in-the-middle can't access it easily. You can ensure that cookies are sent securely and aren't accessed by unintended parties or scripts in one of two ways: with the Secure attribute and the HttpOnly attribute.Ī cookie with the Secure attribute is only sent to the server with an encrypted request over the HTTPS protocol. Modern APIs for client storage are the Web Storage API ( localStorage and sessionStorage) and IndexedDB. Cookies are sent with every request, so they can worsen performance (especially for mobile data connections). While this made sense when they were the only way to store data on the client, modern storage APIs are now recommended. User preferences, themes, and other settings TrackingĬookies were once used for general client-side storage. Logins, shopping carts, game scores, or anything else the server should remember Personalization It remembers stateful information for the stateless HTTP protocol.Ĭookies are mainly used for three purposes: Session management Typically, an HTTP cookie is used to tell if two requests come from the same browser-keeping a user logged in, for example. The browser may store the cookie and send it back to the same server with later requests. An HTTP cookie (web cookie, browser cookie) is a small piece of data that a server sends to a user's web browser.
