Hi everyone, we appreciate the interest surrounding this idea, however we want to be open that we're unable to extend our log-out time past 60 minutes. Xero hold a lot of sensitive information including bank data and we're required to be as secure as online banking.
Any session information running on a web browser can potentially be stolen. If the session does not time out. You then have an infinitely long vulnerability window to session hijacking. Our best option is to keep a tight expiration window on the session cookie, and regenerate them frequently. Even setting a long timeout doesn't help with this - too long a timeout will greatly increase the risk of invasion or potentially jeopardise your personal data and the safety and integrity of the Xero application itself. This is why we maintain control of this.
If we detect there's been no activity on a page (e.g move movements, clicks, keyboard) for 10 minutes you'll receive an inactivity prompt ('Hey Kelly, are you still there?') and if your session reaches 60 minutes you'll be redirected to the login page.
As a suggestion you can periodically refresh the screen <F5> to prevent the security timeout kicking in.
In more recent comments here it sounds like some of you are having issues with the login process or staying logged into Xero for less than 60 minutes. If you're experiencing unexpected behaviour, we'd highly recommend raising a case with our team of specialists at Xero Support where we have tools to investigate and confirm what's going on - Any details you can provide the team on the page you're trying to sign in from (e.g URL, error 500 received) or actions you were making when the login issue occurred will help. Thanks
Hi everyone, we appreciate the interest surrounding this idea, however we want to be open that we're unable to extend our log-out time past 60 minutes. Xero hold a lot of sensitive information including bank data and we're required to be as secure as online banking.
Any session information running on a web browser can potentially be stolen. If the session does not time out. You then have an infinitely long vulnerability window to session hijacking. Our best option is to keep a tight expiration window on the session cookie, and regenerate them frequently. Even setting a long timeout doesn't help with this - too long a timeout will greatly increase the risk of invasion or potentially jeopardise your personal data and the safety and integrity of the Xero application itself. This is why we maintain control of this.
If we detect there's been no activity on a page (e.g…
Session hijacking is a real and serious problem, however there are other ways of dealing with it besides such a strict session timeout. And of course, this doesn't prevent a session hijacking attempt, it just means the window of attack has to be within an hour of signing into Xero. It's extra inconvenient for people who need to sign in sporadically during the day, and the short session is only marginally more secure, it's not like it guarantees security. It should be part of a holistic security and threat detection system. For example, why can't I see active sessions in my account? If my session has been hijacked, where's the list of sessions currently active on my login?
Amy Hesketh
supported this idea
·
Session hijacking is a real and serious problem, however there are other ways of dealing with it besides such a strict session timeout. And of course, this doesn't prevent a session hijacking attempt, it just means the window of attack has to be within an hour of signing into Xero. It's extra inconvenient for people who need to sign in sporadically during the day, and the short session is only marginally more secure, it's not like it guarantees security. It should be part of a holistic security and threat detection system. For example, why can't I see active sessions in my account? If my session has been hijacked, where's the list of sessions currently active on my login?