Secure Coding Standards
The objective of this Secure Coding Standards Plan is to establish a set of guidelines and best practices to ensure the development of secure and robust software within the N3N open-source community.
Principles
Security by Design:
- Incorporate security considerations from the early design phase to identify and mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Least Privilege Principle:
- Limit access and permissions to the minimum necessary for each user or system component.
Defense in Depth:
- Implement multiple layers of security controls to provide redundancy and mitigate the impact of a single security failure.
Fail-Safe Defaults:
- Configure systems and applications with secure default settings to minimize potential vulnerabilities.
Data Sanitization:
- Validate and sanitize input data to prevent injection attacks and ensure data integrity.
Secure Authentication:
- Use strong and adaptive authentication mechanisms. Avoid storing sensitive information, such as passwords, in plaintext.
Secure Authorization:
- Implement role-based access control (RBAC) and ensure that users have the appropriate permissions based on their roles.
Secure Communication:
- Use secure communication protocols (e.g., HTTPS) to protect data in transit. Avoid the use of deprecated or insecure protocols.
Error Handling and Logging:
- Implement proper error handling to provide minimal information to users in case of failures. Log security-relevant events for monitoring.
Code Reviews with Security Focus:
- Conduct regular code reviews with a focus on security aspects. Encourage peer reviews to catch potential vulnerabilities early.
Secure File Handling:
- Validate file uploads, avoid insecure file paths, and ensure that file permissions are set appropriately.
Secure Third-Party Components:
- Regularly update and patch third-party libraries and components. Validate the security posture of dependencies.
Buffer Overflow Protection:
- Implement bounds checking to prevent buffer overflow vulnerabilities.
Continuous Security Training:
- Provide ongoing security training for developers to keep them informed about emerging threats and best practices.
Security Testing:
- Integrate automated and manual security testing into the development lifecycle, including static code analysis and dynamic application security testing (DAST).
Enforcement and Review
- The Secure Coding Standards will be enforced through regular code reviews and automated tools integrated into the development process.
- The standards will be reviewed and updated periodically to adapt to evolving security threats and industry best practices.
By adhering to these coding standards, N3N aims to create a secure and resilient software environment. Thank you for your commitment to secure coding practices!