Application Security Fundamentals: 7 Key Security by Design Principles
An application can never be completely secure.
If you patch an issue today, there could be a new vulnerability tomorrow.
But, there are steps that you can take to make your applications more secure overall.
With 17 years in web application security, our DevOps agency has put together a list of what we think are the most important security principles you should consider for your application's security, based on our knowledge and experience and the OWASP security principles.
What Is Security by Design?
Security by design is software and infrastructure designed to make a system free from vulnerabilities and safe from malicious attacks.
Because vulnerabilities can appear and develop as time passes, maintaining a secure system requires continuous security testing and implementation of new safeguards and staying up-to-date on emerging threats and security vulnerabilities.
Keeping your data secure is understandably very important. Thankfully, there are a few secure design principles that are helpful and essential to know when designing for maximum security.
Following these core security principles can help ensure your application and infrastructure stay on the cutting edge of security and availability.
The 7 Security By Design Principles
These are the main security principles that are important to be aware of when it comes to application security and safeguarding against security threats.
1. Principle of Least Privilege
The principle of least privilege focuses on security by limiting access to only the minimum necessary at each level and for each purpose inside the application and between its essential services.
This principle states that people, infrastructure, applications, and automation should only have as little access as needed to do their job.
This follows that someone who writes articles for your site doesn't need to and shouldn't be able to access all aspects of your site.
The same applies to how much access an application needs to operate at each level versus granting a staging or dev application carte blanche into your production infrastructure.
2. Principle of Separation of Privilege
This principle is interrelated with the principle of least privilege.
It states that no one role should have too much authority because the more authority one person or application has, the more likely they are to make a mistake.
One way we have implemented this principle at OpSourced is by building infrastructures that involve as many secure levels as necessary to reduce authority and make changes to only those people and processes that require it.
In our work with clients, we create easy access to logs and provide clear visibility into the infrastructure without the need to give all members unfettered and untracked access to all levels of the infrastructure.
This way, many vulnerabilities, security flaws, data breaches, attack surfaces, and accidental outages can be prevented without hindering the fast-paced work devs are doing day-to-day.
3. Principle of Open Design
The principle of open design is sometimes referred to as ‘avoiding security by obscurity,' stating that your security shouldn't be totally reliant on secrecy or complicated architecture alone.
Modern cloud implementations are both a blessing and a curse in this regard and require careful planning and meticulous maintenance over time to ensure secure and steady operation, along with adherence to best practices and standards, without getting in the way of forward progress.
4. Principle of Fail-Safe Defaults
Your system should be designed to fail safely when it comes to sensitive data and information.
When a failure occurs, your system should be designed to lock down or fail safely in a manner that keeps your customers and your business secure and notifies the proper teams to take immediate action to remedy the situation and maintain maximum availability.
For example, at OpSourced, we engineer infrastructure, automation, and critical business practices that allow clients to fail as safely and securely as possible.
Whether a malicious user, sensitive data exposure, infrastructure failures, accidental engineer error, or any other type of security incidents—planning ahead to fail and eliminate as many of the options and surprises as possible is a wise investment for the future of your business.
5. Principle of Defense in Depth
The principle of defense in depth is all about levels of security. Your system should use multiple security controls and layers of validation with systems in place that will alert you if your security fails.
You also want to be alerted to potential security risks and security issues.
We build layers of security and fail-safes into all infrastructures we work on so that you can always maintain secure access to your system.
6. Principle of Psychological Accountability
This principle focuses on ease of user access and how security measures shouldn't make resources more difficult to access.
While security may create a few additional steps to access information, the burden should be reasonable.
Adjusting to a new workflow can sometimes take time and effort.
We've found that the easiest way for most teams to learn a new system is for us to fix the entire system so that it's secure and then teach the new workflow once everything is in place.
7. Principle of Complete Mediation
The principle of complete mediation states that access to all objects or resources should also be checked to make sure that they're allowed.
This means that your system shouldn't allow access to something just because it was previously allowed.
All requirements that have to be met for access to that resource should be rechecked to ensure that it's still allowed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the key principles in application security?
We at OpSourced believe the following 7 key principles are fundamental to application security: (1) The principle of least privilege, which limits access to only what is necessary for each role or process. (2) The principle of separation of privilege, which distributes authority to prevent errors or misuse. (3) The principle of open design emphasizes transparency and adherence to best practices rather than relying on secrecy for security. (4) The principle of fail-safe defaults ensures systems fail securely, protecting sensitive data and maintaining security during disruptions. (5) The principle of defense in depth uses multiple layers of security and validation with alerts for potential risks. (6) The principle of psychological accountability ensures security measures are user-friendly and workflows remain intuitive. (7) The principle of complete mediation mandates rechecking permissions for every resource access to ensure compliance with current requirements. These principles collectively create robust, secure systems without compromising usability or efficiency.
What types of testing should I implement to learn about common vulnerabilities?
Some test types that will help shed light on potential security vulnerabilities include mobile application security testing, interactive application security testing, dynamic application security testing, and penetration testing.
In closing
Our years as a DevSecOp agency has taught us that the security principles mentioned in this article are vital to your infrastructure and application security but can often be challenging to apply.
Employee turnover and changing ideas or priorities can also impede security.
We frequently see tech sprawl being ignored as companies focus on maintaining forward momentum.
But not keeping your security up-to-date can cause issues down the road if your business is faced with an outage or a breach.
In addition to having these security principles in place, it's just as important to maintain and test them to ensure they remain operational.
Our DevSecOps experts can work side-by-side with your team to create a personalized infrastructure that fits your business.
Even after your system is running, you can utilize our support and services to ensure the application's security.