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Security Best Practices

This guide provides security best practices across various aspects of software development and operations. It offers practical guidance to enhance the security posture of applications and infrastructure.

Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to:

  • Provide actionable security best practices
  • Establish a baseline for secure development
  • Offer guidance beyond minimum requirements
  • Promote a security-first mindset
  • Support teams in building secure applications

Authentication Best Practices

Password Security

  • Use modern password hashing (bcrypt, Argon2) with appropriate work factors
  • Implement NIST-compliant password policies (no mandatory rotation, allow paste)
  • Enforce minimum password length (12+ characters) over complexity
  • Check passwords against breach databases (e.g., "Have I Been Pwned")
  • Implement secure password reset mechanisms

Multi-Factor Authentication

  • Offer MFA options (TOTP apps, security keys, push notifications)
  • Require MFA for administrative accounts and sensitive operations
  • Implement secure MFA enrollment and recovery
  • Avoid SMS-based MFA where possible
  • Use WebAuthn/FIDO2 for phishing-resistant authentication

Session Management

  • Generate strong, random session identifiers
  • Store session data securely (encrypted, server-side)
  • Implement secure cookie attributes (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite)
  • Set appropriate session timeouts (balance security vs. usability)
  • Provide session termination on all pages
  • Invalidate sessions on security events (password change, suspicious activity)

Authorization Best Practices

Access Control Design

  • Implement defense in depth with multiple authorization layers
  • Use the principle of least privilege for all accounts
  • Design for deny-by-default, explicit grant
  • Centralize authorization logic
  • Perform access control checks on the server side
  • Use role-based or attribute-based access control

API Authorization

  • Use stateless JWT with appropriate expiration
  • Include minimal claims in tokens
  • Implement proper signature validation
  • Use scoped API tokens for service-to-service calls
  • Validate all parameters regardless of authorization status
  • Implement rate limiting and throttling

Secure Administrative Access

  • Require elevated authentication for administrative functions
  • Implement just-in-time access for privileged operations
  • Log all administrative actions
  • Separate admin interfaces from regular user interfaces
  • Implement approvals for critical changes

Data Protection Best Practices

Data Classification

  • Classify data based on sensitivity (public, internal, confidential, restricted)
  • Apply appropriate controls based on classification
  • Label data to ensure proper handling
  • Document data flows across systems
  • Implement data loss prevention for sensitive classifications

Encryption

  • Use strong, industry-standard encryption algorithms
  • Implement TLS 1.2+ for all data in transit
  • Encrypt sensitive data at rest
  • Use envelope encryption for keys
  • Store encryption keys separately from encrypted data
  • Implement proper key rotation procedures

Data Minimization

  • Collect only necessary data
  • Implement appropriate retention policies
  • Anonymize or pseudonymize where possible
  • Securely delete data when no longer needed
  • Minimize exposure of sensitive data in logs and error messages

Secure Coding Best Practices

Input Validation

  • Validate all input on the server side
  • Use whitelist validation where possible
  • Apply context-specific validation (emails, URLs, etc.)
  • Normalize inputs before validation
  • Validate content types and file uploads
  • Reject unexpected or malformed inputs

Output Encoding

  • Apply context-specific output encoding
  • Encode HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and URL outputs
  • Use templating engines with automatic encoding
  • Implement Content Security Policy (CSP)
  • Set secure HTTP headers (X-XSS-Protection, X-Content-Type-Options)

SQL Injection Prevention

  • Use parameterized queries or prepared statements
  • Apply the principle of least privilege to database accounts
  • Validate and sanitize all database inputs
  • Use ORM frameworks correctly
  • Implement proper error handling to prevent information disclosure

Error Handling

  • Implement consistent error handling across the application
  • Return generic error messages to users
  • Log detailed errors for troubleshooting
  • Prevent stack traces from being displayed to users
  • Handle exceptions properly to prevent application crashes

API Security Best Practices

API Design

  • Use RESTful principles or GraphQL best practices
  • Implement proper HTTP methods and status codes
  • Version your APIs
  • Use standard formats (JSON, XML) with schema validation
  • Document APIs using OpenAPI/Swagger

API Protection

  • Implement rate limiting
  • Use API keys or tokens for authentication
  • Validate all input parameters
  • Set appropriate CORS headers
  • Implement request signing for high-value APIs
  • Use an API gateway for centralized control

Microservices Security

  • Implement service-to-service authentication
  • Use mutual TLS between services
  • Follow zero-trust networking principles
  • Isolate services using network policies
  • Implement proper logging and monitoring

Infrastructure Security Best Practices

Server Hardening

  • Run services with the least privilege
  • Disable unnecessary services and ports
  • Apply security patches promptly
  • Use SELinux, AppArmor, or similar MAC systems
  • Implement file integrity monitoring
  • Remove default accounts and credentials

Container Security

  • Use minimal base images
  • Scan containers for vulnerabilities
  • Run containers as non-root users
  • Implement read-only file systems where possible
  • Use network policies to limit container communication
  • Sign container images

Cloud Security

  • Follow the shared responsibility model
  • Use identity and access management (IAM) with least privilege
  • Enable multi-factor authentication for cloud accounts
  • Implement infrastructure as code with security guardrails
  • Monitor cloud resources for misconfigurations
  • Encrypt data stored in cloud services

Security Monitoring Best Practices

Logging

  • Log security-relevant events
  • Include necessary context in logs
  • Use a consistent logging format
  • Protect log integrity
  • Implement centralized log collection
  • Set appropriate log retention periods

Monitoring and Alerting

  • Monitor for unusual authentication patterns
  • Alert on security-relevant events
  • Implement real-time security alerting
  • Use anomaly detection where appropriate
  • Create actionable alerts with clear response procedures

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

  • Aggregate logs from multiple sources
  • Correlate events across systems
  • Create dashboards for security visibility
  • Implement automated response playbooks
  • Regularly review and tune detection rules

DevSecOps Best Practices

Secure CI/CD Pipeline

  • Scan code for vulnerabilities in CI/CD pipelines
  • Verify artifact integrity throughout the pipeline
  • Implement least privilege for build systems
  • Scan dependencies for vulnerabilities
  • Require security gates before deployment

Infrastructure as Code Security

  • Use security scanning for infrastructure code
  • Implement policy as code
  • Store secrets securely, not in code
  • Apply consistent security configurations
  • Version control all infrastructure code

Continuous Security Testing

  • Integrate security testing into the development workflow
  • Automate security testing where possible
  • Balance automated and manual security testing
  • Perform regular penetration testing
  • Test security controls and monitoring

Mobile Application Security Best Practices

Secure Storage

  • Minimize storage of sensitive data on device
  • Use platform-specific secure storage APIs
  • Encrypt sensitive data before storage
  • Implement secure backup procedures
  • Clear sensitive data when no longer needed

Secure Communication

  • Use certificate pinning for critical endpoints
  • Implement proper TLS validation
  • Protect sensitive data over insecure networks
  • Implement app transport security settings
  • Verify server certificates

App Permissions

  • Request minimal permissions
  • Explain permission requests to users
  • Gracefully handle permission denial
  • Request permissions only when needed
  • Follow platform-specific security guidelines

References

Related Documents