diff --git a/auth/basic/README.md b/auth/basic/README.md
index 9e77c0f..fe3a9de 100644
--- a/auth/basic/README.md
+++ b/auth/basic/README.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-`package auth/basic` provides a basic auth middleware [Mozilla article](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Authentication)
+`package auth/basic` provides a Basic Authentication middleware [Mozilla article](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Authentication).
 
 ## Usage
 
@@ -13,4 +13,4 @@
 	)
 ```
 
-For AuthMiddleware to be able to pick up Authentication header from a http request we need to pass it through the context with something like ```httptransport.ServerBefore(httptransport.PopulateRequestContext)```
\ No newline at end of file
+For AuthMiddleware to be able to pick up the Authentication header from a HTTP request we need to pass it through the context with something like ```httptransport.ServerBefore(httptransport.PopulateRequestContext)```.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/auth/basic/middleware.go b/auth/basic/middleware.go
index 1f603de..17b0b61 100644
--- a/auth/basic/middleware.go
+++ b/auth/basic/middleware.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package basic
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"crypto/subtle"
@@ -13,22 +14,22 @@
 	httptransport "github.com/go-kit/kit/transport/http"
 )
 
-// AuthError represents generic Authorization error
+// AuthError represents an authoriation error.
 type AuthError struct {
 	Realm string
 }
 
-// StatusCode is an implemntation of StatusCoder interface in go-kit/http
+// StatusCode is an iimplementation of the StatusCoder interface in go-kit/http.
 func (AuthError) StatusCode() int {
 	return http.StatusUnauthorized
 }
 
-// Error is an implemntation of Error interface
+// Error is an implementation of the Error interface.
 func (AuthError) Error() string {
 	return http.StatusText(http.StatusUnauthorized)
 }
 
-// Headers is an implemntation of Headerer interface in go-kit/http
+// Headers is an implemntation of the Headerer interface in go-kit/http.
 func (e AuthError) Headers() http.Header {
 	return http.Header{
 		"Content-Type":           []string{"text/plain; charset=utf-8"},
@@ -36,26 +37,9 @@
 		"WWW-Authenticate":       []string{fmt.Sprintf(`Basic realm=%q`, e.Realm)}}
 }
 
-func credsAreValid(givenUser, givenPass, requiredUser, requiredPass string) bool {
-	// Equalize lengths of supplied and required credentials
-	// by hashing them
-	givenUserBytes := sha256.Sum256([]byte(givenUser))
-	givenPassBytes := sha256.Sum256([]byte(givenPass))
-	requiredUserBytes := sha256.Sum256([]byte(requiredUser))
-	requiredPassBytes := sha256.Sum256([]byte(requiredPass))
-
-	// Compare the supplied credentials to those set in our options
-	if subtle.ConstantTimeCompare(givenUserBytes[:], requiredUserBytes[:]) == 1 &&
-		subtle.ConstantTimeCompare(givenPassBytes[:], requiredPassBytes[:]) == 1 {
-		return true
-	}
-
-	return false
-}
-
 // parseBasicAuth parses an HTTP Basic Authentication string.
-// "Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==" returns ("Aladdin", "open sesame", true).
-func parseBasicAuth(auth string) (username, password string, ok bool) {
+// "Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==" returns ([]byte("Aladdin"), []byte("open sesame"), true).
+func parseBasicAuth(auth string) (username, password []byte, ok bool) {
 	const prefix = "Basic "
 	if !strings.HasPrefix(auth, prefix) {
 		return
@@ -64,16 +48,19 @@
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}
-	cs := string(c)
-	s := strings.IndexByte(cs, ':')
+
+	s := bytes.IndexByte(c, ':')
 	if s < 0 {
 		return
 	}
-	return cs[:s], cs[s+1:], true
+	return c[:s], c[s+1:], true
 }
 
-// AuthMiddleware returns a Basic Authentication middleware for a particular user and password
+// AuthMiddleware returns a Basic Authentication middleware for a particular user and password.
 func AuthMiddleware(requiredUser, requiredPassword, realm string) endpoint.Middleware {
+	requiredUserBytes := sha256.Sum256([]byte(requiredUser))
+	requiredPassBytes := sha256.Sum256([]byte(requiredPassword))
+
 	return func(next endpoint.Endpoint) endpoint.Endpoint {
 		return func(ctx context.Context, request interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
 			auth := ctx.Value(httptransport.ContextKeyRequestAuthorization).(string)
@@ -82,7 +69,13 @@
 				return nil, AuthError{realm}
 			}
 
-			if !credsAreValid(givenUser, givenPass, requiredUser, requiredPassword) {
+			// Equalize lengths of supplied and required credentials by hashing them.
+			givenUserBytes := sha256.Sum256(givenUser)
+			givenPassBytes := sha256.Sum256(givenPass)
+
+			// Compare the supplied credentials to those set in our options.
+			if subtle.ConstantTimeCompare(givenUserBytes[:], requiredUserBytes[:]) == 0 ||
+				subtle.ConstantTimeCompare(givenPassBytes[:], requiredPassBytes[:]) == 0 {
 				return nil, AuthError{realm}
 			}