How Session Management Works and Why It’s Important

When you visit a website or log into an application, session management protocols facilitate a smooth user experience that’s specific to your identity, while preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your account or data.

In other words, robust session management is the foundation for seamless, personalized, and secure interactions between a user and a web application or system. Continue reading below as we discuss session management in further detail and provide some best practices and suggestions for enhanced security.

User session management is an important security function of web applications. It keeps user identities and sensitive data secure during an interaction while orchestrating a seamless navigation experience as the user submits requests and visits different web pages or applications.

Session management is highly versatile and applied across different web applications and systems, keeping user identities protected both in a consumer and workplace environment. Whether a person logs into their bank account to schedule a transfer or an employee accesses a database at work, session management keeps these interactions secure and ensures that only users with the proper permissions are able to perform these actions.

During a session, various requests and responses are transmitted between the user and the web application, with sensitive information like the user’s password and other private data being shared, stored, and processed on the web browser. Thus, session management protocols help to preserve user confidentiality by recognizing and remembering authorized users, preventing their data from falling into the wrong hands, and applying the appropriate access rights and preferences throughout their session.

Session IDs, sometimes referred to as unique identifiers or session tokens, are integral to session management. They are a string of randomly generated characters that identify a specific user session. A session ID is generated by a server when a user makes an initial request, such as logging onto an application, and destroyed when the session ends.

There are both short and long-lived sessions, each serving a unique purpose. A short-lived session has a shorter duration and typically lasts as long as the user remains active within an application or website. If they leave or close the browser, they will need to be re-authenticated before accessing the system. In contrast, a long-lived session lasts until a user manually logs out or is forced to log out, with the session ID stored on their device within a cookie. So, even if they leave the application, they will remain logged in.

The benefit of short-lived sessions is that they are more secure, with the session ending each time the user closes the application or leaves the website. However, short-lived sessions can disrupt the flow of the user experience, requiring them to re-authenticate each time they open the application. This is where long-lived sessions are preferable in certain cases, as they create a more seamless experience. However, the downside is that anyone with access to the device where the session ID is stored can gain access to active sessions.

The security of a session management strategy hinges on the strength of session IDs and how they’re configured. Session IDs should be unique and randomly generated, keeping attackers from successfully guessing or predicting them and compromising user session security.

General recommendations are to generate IDs that are at least 128 bits in length and don’t follow predictable patterns or values, like including the timestamp of the request or using known naming conventions that could easily be guessed. Session IDs should also not contain any sensitive or personally identifiable information (PII) to prevent the risk of exposure in the event of a breach.

Session IDs are transmitted between the user’s browser and the server with cookies. These can either be session cookies, which are temporarily stored on the browser for the duration of the session, or persistent cookies, which are used over a longer duration and stored on the user’s device even after closing the browser.

Robust session management is instrumental in helping organizations mitigate the risks that make a user session vulnerable to attack. Here are some of the specific cyber attacks related to session management protocols that an organization can experience:

Session Hijacking

A session hijack attack occurs when a cybercriminal accesses a compromised session ID after the user has been authenticated, taking over their session. This type of attack is also called cookie hijacking or TCP session hijacking, and the session token may either be stolen, predicted, or guessed by the attacker.

In this scenario, the attacker impersonates the authorized user and can enjoy the permissions and access that the user has to the system or web application. Since the legitimate user is actively in a session during this type of attack, they may experience the application crashing or appearing unusual.

In many cases, the attacker is hoping to gain access to the user’s passwords or other sensitive information, like payment data. Once they have access to the user’s account, they may make a transaction or purchase, transfer money to an account they control, infect the user’s device with malware, or use stored information to steal the user’s identity.

Session Fixation

Another possible type of attack is session fixation, which is similar to a session hijack, though it exhibits some distinct differences. With a session fixation attack, the criminal tries to trick a user into accessing a session that they’ve already established but have yet to be authenticated, usually with a malicious link. In other words, this type of attack begins before a user even logs into a web application, while a session hijack occurs after the fact.

The purpose of a session fixation attack is to access the user’s account and sensitive information. If the user falls into the attacker’s trap and clicks on the provided link, the unauthorized party will be granted access and can impersonate the victim, like with a session hijacking attack.

To prevent these attacks, session management strategies must be in place to safeguard session IDs so they cannot be exploited by bad actors. Further, the application should have guidelines in place to only accept session identifiers generated by the server, mitigating the risk that it was originated by a perpetrator.

Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Lastly, applications may experience man-in-the-middle attacks, where an attacker puts themselves in between the user and the application, hoping to mimic the regular flow of communication while intercepting critical information or impersonating either party.

In these types of attacks, the perpetrator hopes to access personal information like the user’s password, payment information, and other sensitive data that they can exploit for their own personal gain such as identity theft or initiating fraudulent transactions. However, their goal is to be imperceptible to the end-user or application, raising no flags that something malicious is underway.

Use these session management best practices to safeguard user sessions and prevent unauthorized access from unknown entities.

Session Lifetime

One tip for more robust session management is to find the optimal session lifetime for various scenarios. As we discussed above, there is a balance between creating a frictionless user experience with long-lived sessions and enhancing security through short-lived sessions and more frequent re-authentication requests.

In general, shorter session lifetimes give attackers a small window of opportunity to exploit compromised session IDs. Thus, in situations where the user session involves high-risk activities or the sharing of sensitive data, it may be worth it to shorten the session lifetime in the name of better security. However, this might be seen as overkill for less sensitive applications.

Remember Me

In session management, the concept of “Remember Me” or persistent login refers to the option users have to stay logged into a system or application. Though this feature facilitates a more convenient user experience, it can also detract from a system’s security posture by lengthening the session lifetime.

Choosing to enable a “Remember Me” functionality requires some thorough consideration. For the best outcomes, applications should implement this function with a secure mechanism or cookies with strong encryption so authentication tokens are stored securely.

Force Logout

A system or application should have a prominent logout button for users to manually close the session on their own. However, applications should also implement force logout protocols to automatically log users out after a certain session length. Forcing logouts shortens the window of opportunity for attackers, helping to keep user identities and information secure.

Properties of Session ID Cookies

Another session management best practice is to properly configure session cookies. Here are some of the important cookie attributes that protect session IDs:

• Secure attribute: Ensures the cookie is only sent over a secure and encrypted connection
• HttpOnly attribute: Prevents any user-side scripts from accessing the cookie
• SameSite attribute: Dictates whether a cookie can be sent in same-site requests
• Domain attribute: Defines the domain and subdomain where a cookie is valid
• Path attribute: Specifies the URL path where the cookie can be sent
• Expire attribute: Defines the date and time when a cookie will expire
• Max-Age attribute: Another way to set session expirations, allowing applications to specify the maximum amount of time that a cookie is valid after it was created

Generation of New Session IDs

It’s best practice to use a secure generator to create session IDs. This way, applications can ensure session tokens are unpredictable and unique, mitigating the risk of perpetrators successfully guessing and exploiting them in an attack.

In addition, a new session ID should be generated as the user’s permissions and privileges change, such as when they first visit the website, log into their account, change account information, or attempt other sensitive actions.

Internal Stakeholder Alignment

Session management practices should be implemented consistently throughout an organization to strengthen its overall security posture. Business teams must work together to map out objectives and risks, implementing an appropriate identity access management solution to mitigate fraud and unauthorized access to their applications.

Thus, a certain level of collaboration is required to ensure the session management protocols support the security and usability of an organization’s applications and systems.

Continuous Risk Signal Monitoring

Session management requires a dynamic and agile approach to strengthen security and mitigate emerging threats and vulnerabilities. With continuous monitoring, organizations can look for unusual login patterns or locations, abnormal activities, or suspicious behaviors within and across sessions. This can make it easier to detect when a session is being driven by an entity other than the authorized user, prompting re-authentication.

Risk-Based Authentication

Similarly, applications can implement a risk-based authentication mechanism that adjusts authentication requirements based on the perceived risk level of the user’s session. So, if a user initiates a session from a new location, attempts to make a large transaction, or engages in other high-risk activities, the application can automatically send a re-authentication request before resuming the session.

Use of Passkeys

Passkeys reduce organizations’ reliance on vulnerable knowledge-based password authentication. The use of passkeys can enhance session management by strengthening the security of user accounts while also making it easier for users to log into applications or websites with biometric factors, PINs, or other methods. In sum, passkeys make it easier for organizations to find the balance between a seamless user journey and data security.

The above session management best practices should give you a good start on the secure implementation of this security framework. Overall, these are the general steps to take when implementing user session management:

• Identifying the session management requirements suited to your application’s security needs and user experience objectives, such as session timeout policies
• Choosing an appropriate session storage location
• Establishing secure user authentication methods, such as multi-factor authentication, username-password combinations, etc.
• Implementing a secure session ID generator
• Managing and storing session IDs securely with cookies, URL parameters, etc.
• Configuring cookie settings with the appropriate security attributes
• Defining incidents or actions where a user session can be revoked

Effective session management plays a crucial role in modern cybersecurity, enabling applications to deliver personalized experiences for users, while safeguarding their sensitive data from bad actors.

Both workforce and consumer applications can benefit from comprehensive identity-enabled access management with Ping Identity. Our solution helps you deliver an exceptional user experience through secure and convenient interactions online while eliminating the use of problematic passwords. 

To learn more about creating a secure and frictionless user experience, view our latest webinar. We’ll walk you through how to create a smoother login experience, meet compliance requirements, and enable progressive profiling.