How can you design a secure system to resist attacks?

1 Identify threats and risks

The first step in designing a secure system is to identify the potential threats and risks that your system may face. This involves conducting a threat modeling exercise, where you analyze the assets, actors, boundaries, and attack vectors of your system. You can use tools such as STRIDE or DREAD to categorize and prioritize the threats based on their severity, likelihood, and impact. By identifying the threats and risks, you can define the security objectives and requirements for your system.

3 Implement security controls

The third step is to implement the security controls that can enforce your security requirements and principles. Authentication, authorization, encryption, auditing, and testing are all common security measures that can prevent, detect, or respond to attacks. Authentication verifies the identity of users or entities that access your system using passwords, tokens, certificates, or biometrics. Authorization controls the actions or resources users or entities can access or perform on your system through roles, permissions, or policies. Encryption protects the confidentiality and integrity of data in transit or at rest using algorithms such as AES, RSA, or SHA. Auditing records and monitors activities and events on your system with logs, alerts, or reports. Testing validates and verifies the security of your system with code review, penetration testing, or vulnerability scanning.

4 Follow security standards and best practices

The fourth step is to follow the security standards and best practices that are relevant to your system domain, industry, or technology. These established guidelines and recommendations can help you achieve a certain level of security compliance or quality. For example, OWASP offers resources and tools that can improve the security of web applications and services. NIST provides a framework and publications to manage the security and risk of information systems and networks. ISO has a series of standards that can help you implement and maintain a security management system for your organization or system. Additionally, CIS has a collection of benchmarks and controls that can help you configure and harden your system components and platforms.

5 Update and maintain your system

The final step is to update and maintain your system regularly and consistently. Security is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring, evaluation, and improvement. You should always keep your system up to date with the latest security patches, fixes, and enhancements. You should also review your system performance, security posture, and threat landscape periodically, and make adjustments or changes as needed. You should also train and educate your system users and stakeholders on the security policies and procedures, and encourage feedback and reporting.