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Created October 23, 2023 06:01 — forked from joepie91/random.md
Secure random values (in Node.js)

Not all random values are created equal - for security-related code, you need a specific kind of random value.

A summary of this article, if you don't want to read the entire thing:

  • Don't use Math.random(). There are extremely few cases where Math.random() is the right answer. Don't use it, unless you've read this entire article, and determined that it's necessary for your case.
  • Don't use crypto.getRandomBytes directly. While it's a CSPRNG, it's easy to bias the result when 'transforming' it, such that the output becomes more predictable.
  • If you want to generate random tokens or API keys: Use uuid, specifically the uuid.v4() method. Avoid node-uuid - it's not the same package, and doesn't produce reliably secure random values.
  • If you want to generate random numbers in a range: Use random-number-csprng.

You should seriously consider reading the entire article, though - it's