diff --git a/backend/config/passportConfig.js b/backend/config/passportConfig.js
index 173ff8a9..ccd25c89 100644
--- a/backend/config/passportConfig.js
+++ b/backend/config/passportConfig.js
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ passport.use(
         { usernameField: "email" },
         async (email, password, done) => {
             try {
-                const user = await User.findOne( {email} ).select("+password");;
+                const user = await User.findOne({ email }).select("+password");
                 if (!user) {
-                    return done(null, false, { message: 'Email is invalid '});
+                    return done(null, false, { message: 'Email is invalid ' });
                 }
 
                 const isMatch = await user.comparePassword(password);
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ passport.use(
                 }
 
                 return done(null, {
-                    id : user._id.toString(),
+                    id: user._id.toString(),
                     username: user.username,
                     email: user.email
                 });
@@ -38,10 +38,14 @@ passport.serializeUser((user, done) => {
 passport.deserializeUser(async (id, done) => {
     try {
         const user = await User.findById(id);
+        
+        // 🛡️ Safety check: If the user record no longer exists in MongoDB, exit safely
+        // This prevents the application from throwing an unhandled TypeError downstream
         if (!user) {
-            return done(null, false);
+            return done(null, false); // Gracefully invalidates the cookie and ends the request loop
         }
-        done(null,user);
+        
+        done(null, user);
     } catch (err) {
         done(err, null);
     }
diff --git a/backend/server.js b/backend/server.js
index 48d6ccfb..b73d5446 100644
--- a/backend/server.js
+++ b/backend/server.js
@@ -28,10 +28,16 @@ app.use(cors({
 
 // Middleware
 app.use(bodyParser.json());
+
 app.use(session({
     secret: process.env.SESSION_SECRET,
     resave: false,
     saveUninitialized: false,
+    cookie: {
+        maxAge: 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000,
+        secure: process.env.NODE_ENV === "production",
+        sameSite: process.env.NODE_ENV === "production" ? "none" : "lax"
+    }
 }));
 app.use(passport.initialize());
 app.use(passport.session());