Security Best Practices

When to use this skill

• New project: consider security from the start
• Security audit: inspect and fix vulnerabilities
• Public API: harden APIs accessible externally
• Compliance: comply with GDPR, PCI-DSS, etc.

Instructions

Step 1: Enforce HTTPS and security headers

Express.js security middleware:

import express from 'express';
import helmet from 'helmet';
import rateLimit from 'express-rate-limit';

const app = express();

// Helmet: automatically set security headers
app.use(helmet({
  contentSecurityPolicy: {
    directives: {
      defaultSrc: ["'self'"],
      scriptSrc: ["'self'", "'unsafe-inline'", "https://trusted-cdn.com"],
      styleSrc: ["'self'", "'unsafe-inline'"],
      imgSrc: ["'self'", "data:", "https:"],
      connectSrc: ["'self'", "https://api.example.com"],
      fontSrc: ["'self'", "https:", "data:"],
      objectSrc: ["'none'"],
      mediaSrc: ["'self'"],
      frameSrc: ["'none'"],
    },
  },
  hsts: {
    maxAge: 31536000,
    includeSubDomains: true,
    preload: true
  }
}));

// Enforce HTTPS
app.use((req, res, next) => {
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' && !req.secure) {
    return res.redirect(301, `https://${req.headers.host}${req.url}`);
  }
  next();
});

// Rate limiting (DDoS prevention)
const limiter = rateLimit({
  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000, // 15 minutes
  max: 100, // max 100 requests per IP
  message: 'Too many requests from this IP, please try again later.',
  standardHeaders: true,
  legacyHeaders: false,
});

app.use('/api/', limiter);

// Stricter for auth endpoints
const authLimiter = rateLimit({
  windowMs: 15 * 60 * 1000,
  max: 5, // only 5 times per 15 minutes
  skipSuccessfulRequests: true // do not count successful requests
});

app.use('/api/auth/login', authLimiter);

Step 2: Input validation (SQL Injection, XSS prevention)

Joi validation:

import Joi from 'joi';

const userSchema = Joi.object({
  email: Joi.string().email().required(),
  password: Joi.string().min(8).pattern(/^(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*\d)(?=.*[@$!%*?&])[A-Za-z\d@$!%*?&]/).required(),
  name: Joi.string().min(2).max(50).required()
});

app.post('/api/users', async (req, res) => {
  // 1. Validate input
  const { error, value } = userSchema.validate(req.body);

  if (error) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: error.details[0].message });
  }

  // 2. Prevent SQL Injection: Parameterized Queries
  // ❌ Bad example
  // db.query(`SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = '${email}'`);

  // ✅ Good example
  const user = await db.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = ?', [value.email]);

  // 3. Prevent XSS: Output Encoding
  // React/Vue escape automatically; otherwise use a library
  import DOMPurify from 'isomorphic-dompurify';
  const sanitized = DOMPurify.sanitize(userInput);

  res.json({ user: sanitized });
});

Step 3: Prevent CSRF

CSRF Token:

import csrf from 'csurf';
import cookieParser from 'cookie-parser';

app.use(cookieParser());

// CSRF protection
const csrfProtection = csrf({ cookie: true });

// Provide CSRF token
app.get('/api/csrf-token', csrfProtection, (req, res) => {
  res.json({ csrfToken: req.csrfToken() });
});

// Validate CSRF on all POST/PUT/DELETE requests
app.post('/api/*', csrfProtection, (req, res, next) => {
  next();
});

// Use on the client
// fetch('/api/users', {
//   method: 'POST',
//   headers: {
//     'CSRF-Token': csrfToken
//   },
//   body: JSON.stringify(data)
// });

Step 4: Manage secrets

.env (never commit):

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb

# JWT
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET=your-super-secret-access-token-key-min-32-chars
REFRESH_TOKEN_SECRET=your-super-secret-refresh-token-key-min-32-chars

# API Keys
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_xxx
SENDGRID_API_KEY=SG.xxx

Kubernetes Secrets:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: myapp-secrets
type: Opaque
stringData:
  database-url: postgresql://user:password@postgres:5432/mydb
  jwt-secret: your-jwt-secret

// Read from environment variables
const dbUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
if (!dbUrl) {
  throw new Error('DATABASE_URL environment variable is required');
}

Step 5: Secure API authentication

JWT + Refresh Token Rotation:

// Short-lived access token (15 minutes)
const accessToken = jwt.sign({ userId }, ACCESS_SECRET, { expiresIn: '15m' });

// Long-lived refresh token (7 days), store in DB
const refreshToken = jwt.sign({ userId }, REFRESH_SECRET, { expiresIn: '7d' });
await db.refreshToken.create({
  userId,
  token: refreshToken,
  expiresAt: new Date(Date.now() + 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)
});

// Refresh token rotation: re-issue on each use
app.post('/api/auth/refresh', async (req, res) => {
  const { refreshToken } = req.body;

  const payload = jwt.verify(refreshToken, REFRESH_SECRET);

  // Invalidate existing token
  await db.refreshToken.delete({ where: { token: refreshToken } });

  // Issue new tokens
  const newAccessToken = jwt.sign({ userId: payload.userId }, ACCESS_SECRET, { expiresIn: '15m' });
  const newRefreshToken = jwt.sign({ userId: payload.userId }, REFRESH_SECRET, { expiresIn: '7d' });

  await db.refreshToken.create({
    userId: payload.userId,
    token: newRefreshToken,
    expiresAt: new Date(Date.now() + 7 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)
  });

  res.json({ accessToken: newAccessToken, refreshToken: newRefreshToken });
});

Constraints

Required rules (MUST)

1. HTTPS Only: HTTPS required in production
2. Separate secrets: manage via environment variables; never hardcode in code
3. Input Validation: validate all user input
4. Parameterized Queries: prevent SQL Injection
5. Rate Limiting: DDoS prevention

Prohibited items (MUST NOT)

1. No eval(): code injection risk
2. No direct innerHTML: XSS risk
3. No committing secrets: never commit .env files

OWASP Top 10 checklist

- [ ] A01: Broken Access Control - RBAC, authorization checks
- [ ] A02: Cryptographic Failures - HTTPS, encryption
- [ ] A03: Injection - Parameterized Queries, Input Validation
- [ ] A04: Insecure Design - Security by Design
- [ ] A05: Security Misconfiguration - Helmet, change default passwords
- [ ] A06: Vulnerable Components - npm audit, regular updates
- [ ] A07: Authentication Failures - strong auth, MFA
- [ ] A08: Data Integrity Failures - signature validation, CSRF prevention
- [ ] A09: Logging Failures - security event logging
- [ ] A10: SSRF - validate outbound requests

Best practices

1. Principle of Least Privilege: grant minimal privileges
2. Defense in Depth: layered security
3. Security Audits: regular security reviews

References

• OWASP Top 10
• helmet.js
• Security Checklist

Metadata

Version

• Current version: 1.0.0
• Last updated: 2025-01-01
• Compatible platforms: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini

Related skills

• [authentication-setup](../authentication-setup/SKILL.md)
• [deployment](../deployment-automation/SKILL.md)

Tags

#security #OWASP #HTTPS #CORS #XSS #SQL-injection #CSRF #infrastructure

Examples

Example 1: Basic usage

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Example 2: Advanced usage

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