8. Security

Handling Sensitive Data

Purpose:

• Protecting sensitive data is critical to safeguarding user privacy and preventing security breaches. Implementing proper security measures ensures that sensitive information, such as user credentials, personal data, and financial details, remains confidential and secure.

Guidelines:

• Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit using industry-standard encryption algorithms and protocols to prevent unauthorized access or interception.
• Implement access controls, authentication mechanisms, and authorization policies to restrict access to sensitive data based on user roles and permissions.
• Follow security best practices for storing, handling, and transmitting sensitive information, such as password hashing, secure session management, and HTTPS encryption.

Secure Coding Practices

Purpose:

• Secure coding practices help mitigate common security vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of exploitation by malicious actors. Adhering to secure coding guidelines ensures that code is robust, resilient, and resistant to attacks.

Guidelines:

• Validate and sanitize user inputs to prevent injection attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and command injection.
• Use parameterized queries, prepared statements, and input validation techniques to mitigate injection vulnerabilities in database queries, HTTP requests, and other input channels.
• Implement proper error handling and logging mechanisms to detect and respond to security incidents, such as unauthorized access attempts, data breaches, and abnormal behavior.

Authentication and Authorization Guidelines

Purpose:

• Authentication and authorization mechanisms verify the identity of users and control their access to resources and functionalities within the application. Implementing robust authentication and authorization measures ensures that only authorized users can access protected resources and perform authorized actions.

Guidelines:

• Use strong authentication methods, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and OAuth, to verify the identity of users and protect against unauthorized access.
• Implement role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC) to enforce fine-grained access policies and permissions based on user roles, attributes, or group memberships.
• Regularly review and audit access controls, authentication mechanisms, and authorization policies to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance gaps.