PASETO vs JWT: A Token Format That Removes the Footguns (opens in new tab)

JSON Web Tokens are everywhere, and most of their famous vulnerabilities trace back to a single design choice: the token tells the verifier which algorithm to use. PASETO was built by people who got tired of cleaning up after that decision. It is worth understanding even if you never adopt it — because it shows what a token format looks like when security is the default, not a configuration option. A bearer token is a short string a client presents to prove it is allowed to do something. The ...