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Using encrypted tokens help mitigate stolen session IDs (https://owasp.org/index.php/Cross-Site_Request_Forgery_(CSRF...).

And while HSTS helps protect against sslstrip, you're still vulnerable to MITM attacks due to issues with the CA system.

See moxie's 2011 talk "SSL and the Future of Authenticity" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Wl2FW2TcA)




Encrypted tokens might help against CSRF, but if I have your session ID, it's game over. The best you can do is restrict the user agent used with the session, but that's an obstacle that can be overcome. You might try to restrict the IP address used with the session, too, but those change often even without attack that it's not practical, either.

The robustness of the public CA system is a legitimate problem, but it's not a concern for most of us. People like to complain that the public CA security model is not perfect, but we have to remember that the CA ecosystem was not designed for perfection; it was designed to enable ecommerce. We now have different goals (well, some of us) and have to change our approach accordingly.

MITM attacks using fraudulent certificates are very costly and make sense only against very high-value properties. If you're legitimately worried about them, you should consider using public key pinning, which effectively deals with the problem. (But, alas, only works in Chrome today.)




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