6 secure coding practices you can implement today

Writing secure source code is fundamental to prevent potential exploits and attacks that could undermine your software applications.

Here’s a short list of best practices to help you write secure code and minimize the risk of security vulnerabilities.

1. Validate input and sanitize data

  • Check data length and format
  • Validate characters set
  • Escape inputs

2. Manage authentication and authorization

  • Use TLS (transport layer security) client authentication
  • Implement authentication error messages
  • Safely store, control, transmit, and manage your passwords

3. Adopt the principle of least privilege

  • Give only the minimum privileges and permissions
  • Validate permissions on every request
  • Create tests to validate permissions before the release
  • Review permissions frequently

4. Make the architecture secure

  • Use subsystems
  • Use only secure plugins and libraries
  • Use a simple and user-friendly design

5. Create multiple security layers

  • Configure the security settings of each application
  • Focus on secure programming and secure runtime environments
  • Use authentication checkers
  • Use strong encryption
  • Protect your database
  • Use trusted security certificates

6. Check your code quality and follow coding standards

  • Review your code
  • Use coding standards
  • Prevent attacks with threat modeling

Do you know other secure code best practices? Share them with us :point_down: