Security - ministryofjustice/hale-platform GitHub Wiki

Maintaining Security Standards for Hale Platform

Maintaining security standards for Hale Platform, a web application, involves a comprehensive approach to safeguard against vulnerabilities and ensure data protection. We take a proportionate security approach, implementing measures that are appropriate to the level of risk and the sensitivity of the data being protected. 🔒✅

Our security standards code of practice on the platform:

1. Regular Security Audits

To conduct regular security audits to identify and address potential vulnerabilities. This includes code reviews, penetration testing, and vulnerability assessments to ensure the application is resilient against attacks (Cymulate report).

2. Secure Development Practices

Adopt secure coding practices to minimise risks from the development phase. Implement input validation, output encoding, and avoid using insecure functions. Ensure that all developers are trained in secure coding techniques. Log and securely manage access control when deploying to the platform.

3. Authentication and Authorisation

Implement robust authentication mechanisms. Ensure proper authorisation checks are in place to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data and functionalities.

4. Data Encryption

Encrypt sensitive data both in transit and at rest. Use industry-standard encryption protocols such as TLS for data transmission (1.3 or higher) and AES for storing data securely if required.

5. Regular Updates and Patch Management

Keep the platform and its dependencies up to date with the latest security patches. Regularly update third-party libraries and frameworks (WordPress) to mitigate risks from known vulnerabilities.

6. Monitoring and Logging

Comprehensive monitoring and logging mechanisms have been setup to detect and respond to suspicious activities. Analyse logs regularly to identify and mitigate potential security threats. We use an industry leading WAF in front of our platform and have monitoring of the ingress/egress running though.

7. Incident Response Plan

An incident response plan has been developed to address security breaches promptly. This should include steps for containment, eradication, recovery, and post-incident analysis.

8. User Education

Educate users about security best practices, such as recognising phishing attempts and using strong, unique passwords. User training can significantly reduce the risk of security incidents caused by human error.

9. Access Control

Implement strict access control policies to ensure that users only have access to the data and functionalities necessary for their roles. Regularly review and update access controls to align with current roles and responsibilities. These include limiting who can publish code and have access to deploy to our platform.

10. Compliance and Legal Requirements

Ensure compliance with relevant Government regulations and standards, such as GDPR, NCSC, to avoid legal repercussions and enhance the platform's security posture.

By adhering to these security standards, Hale Platform can significantly enhance its resilience against cyber threats, protect user data, and maintain trust with its user base.