SOP

SOP (Same Origin Policy) in Web Security

What is SOP? The Same-Origin Policy (SOP) is a critical security feature in web browsers that prevents scripts on one domain from accessing resources on another domain without explicit permission. This policy ensures that content from different origins (protocol, host, and port) is kept separate and prevents malicious websites from accessing sensitive information on other sites.

Why It Matters: SOP is a foundational security feature that protects user data and prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, unauthorized data access, and other security vulnerabilities by enforcing strict boundaries between web origins.

Common Use Cases: SOP is used to enforce security policies in browsers to ensure that cross-origin requests (like those from external APIs or scripts) are only allowed when the target server explicitly permits it.

By enforcing SOP, browsers can protect users from a wide range of attacks and ensure that interactions between websites are secure and isolated.

This is the printer-friendly version. See the colour SOP flyer.