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Protect your npm account with two-factor authentication and read-only tokens
Today, we are announcing two new ways to protect your npm account. Please read on to learn how you can use these security features to keep your code safe and increase everyone’s trust in the more than 550,000 packages of code in the npm Registry.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
Now, you can sync your npm account with an authentication application like Google Authenticator or Authy. When you log in, you’ll be prompted for a single-use numeric code generated by the app.
2FA is another layer of defense for your account, preventing third parties from altering your code even if they steal or guess your credentials. This is one of the easiest and most important ways to ensure that only you can access to your npm account.
Read-only tokens
If your continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflow includes linking your npm account to tools like Travis CI with authentication tokens, you can now create read-only tokens for tools that don’t need to publish. You can also restrict tokens to work from only specified ranges of IP addresses.
Even if your token is compromised — for example, if you accidentally commit it to GitHub — no one else can alter your code, and only authorized CI servers will be able to download your code.
Learn more about tokens in this doc:
Set these up now (please)
The npm community is now larger than the population of New York City, so it’s never been more important to reinforce trust and encourage collaboration. Every developer who secures their npm account with these new methods helps ensure the safety and integrity of the code we all discover, share, and reuse to build amazing things.
Learn how to activate 2FA in this doc:
Using Two-Factor Authentication
Watch this space
There has never been a major security incident caused by leaked npm credentials, but our security work is never finished. We work continuously to protect the npm Registry and detect and remove malicious code, and we try to keep you informed of our efforts.
If you ever believe you’ve encountered any malicious code on the Registry or in npm itself, contact us right away [using the npm website](lgt security contact form) or by emailing security@npmjs.com. If you have any feedback or questions about what we’ve rolled out today, just contact support@npmjs.com.
Thanks for helping keep the npm community safe.
UPDATE: To try out TFA, you’ll need version npm@5.5.1 or newer of the npm client. To get it, run `npm install npm@latest -g`.