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Design Secure User Authentication

MediumSecurity & Infrastructure00:00
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Welcome to your interview.

The question is on your right: Design Secure User Authentication. Take a moment with it first.

Talk your thinking through with me if you like - when you're confident, submit your answer and I'll grade it like a real screen (7/10 or better passes). Discussion and graded submissions share your five interviewer interactions, so spend them well.

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Problem

Scenario

You own the user authentication flow for a consumer payments app. The current login path supports password sign-in and session tokens, and you are seeing increased account-takeover attempts against high-value users. Product wants to add a new authentication feature without weakening existing protections or creating a support burden.

Question

How would you design the authentication feature end to end so it resists spoofing, token theft, and brute-force abuse while still failing safely? Walk through the controls, trust boundaries, and how you would verify the design works in production.