diff --git a/src/app/api/init/route.ts b/src/app/api/init/route.ts
index 062c7f6..83b029d 100644
--- a/src/app/api/init/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/init/route.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from 'next/server';
 import { initializeDatabase } from '@/lib/db';
 import { logger, sanitizeError } from '@/lib/logging';
+import { safeCompare } from '@/lib/security';
 
 export async function POST(request: NextRequest) {
     try {
@@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ export async function POST(request: NextRequest) {
         const initSecret = process.env.INIT_SECRET;
         const authHeader = request.headers.get('authorization');
 
-        if (initSecret && authHeader !== `Bearer ${initSecret}`) {
+        if (initSecret && (!authHeader || !safeCompare(authHeader, `Bearer ${initSecret}`))) {
             return NextResponse.json(
                 { error: 'Unauthorized' },
                 { status: 401 }
diff --git a/src/app/api/paste/[id]/rotate/route.ts b/src/app/api/paste/[id]/rotate/route.ts
index bdaae49..0229bad 100644
--- a/src/app/api/paste/[id]/rotate/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/paste/[id]/rotate/route.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { getPasteMetadata, getDb } from '@/lib/db';
 import { getPaste, storePaste, getPasteTTL, deletePaste } from '@/lib/redis';
 import { logger, sanitizeError } from '@/lib/logging';
 import { generatePasteId } from '@/lib/crypto';
+import { safeCompare } from '@/lib/security';
 
 export async function POST(
     request: NextRequest,
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ export async function POST(
             );
         }
 
-        if (metadata.deletionToken !== token) {
+        if (!metadata.deletionToken || !safeCompare(metadata.deletionToken, token)) {
             return NextResponse.json(
                 { error: 'Invalid authorization token. Rotation denied.' },
                 { status: 403 }
diff --git a/src/app/api/paste/[id]/route.ts b/src/app/api/paste/[id]/route.ts
index caf8e0f..b0862d8 100644
--- a/src/app/api/paste/[id]/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/paste/[id]/route.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
 } from '@/lib/db';
 import { getPaste, deletePaste } from '@/lib/redis';
 import { logger, sanitizeError } from '@/lib/logging';
+import { safeCompare } from '@/lib/security';
 
 /**
  * GET - Retrieve paste and update view state
@@ -140,7 +141,7 @@ export async function DELETE(
             );
         }
 
-        if (metadata.deletionToken !== token) {
+        if (!metadata.deletionToken || !safeCompare(metadata.deletionToken, token)) {
             return NextResponse.json(
                 { error: 'Invalid authorization token. Revocation denied.' },
                 { status: 403 }
diff --git a/src/lib/security.test.ts b/src/lib/security.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d557b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/security.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert';
+import { safeCompare } from './security.ts';
+
+test('safeCompare function', async (t) => {
+    await t.test('should return true for identical strings', () => {
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('hello', 'hello'), true);
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('', ''), true);
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('a'.repeat(100), 'a'.repeat(100)), true);
+    });
+
+    await t.test('should return false for different strings of same length', () => {
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('hello', 'world'), false);
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('abcde', 'abcdf'), false);
+    });
+
+    await t.test('should return false for different strings of different length', () => {
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('hello', 'hello world'), false);
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('short', 'longer string'), false);
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('', 'not empty'), false);
+    });
+
+    await t.test('should handle unicode correctly', () => {
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('🔒', '🔒'), true);
+        assert.strictEqual(safeCompare('🔒', '🔓'), false);
+    });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/security.ts b/src/lib/security.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f14fe6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/security.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { timingSafeEqual } from 'node:crypto';
+
+/**
+ * Perform a timing-safe string comparison to prevent timing attacks.
+ * This is particularly important for comparing sensitive tokens like
+ * deletion tokens or API secrets.
+ *
+ * @param a The first string to compare
+ * @param b The second string to compare
+ * @returns True if the strings are equal, false otherwise
+ */
+export function safeCompare(a: string, b: string): boolean {
+    const aBuffer = Buffer.from(a);
+    const bBuffer = Buffer.from(b);
+
+    if (aBuffer.length !== bBuffer.length) {
+        // Still perform a comparison to mitigate timing differences,
+        // even though the lengths don't match.
+        timingSafeEqual(aBuffer, aBuffer);
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    return timingSafeEqual(aBuffer, bBuffer);
+}