Secure Design
Secure design solutions

Key principles and practices in secure design
Threat Modeling
This involves identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities that could compromise the security of the software or system. Threat modeling helps to understand the potential risks and guides the design process to address and mitigate these risks effectively.
Least Privilege
The principle of least privilege states that users, processes, or components should be granted only the minimum access privileges necessary to perform their required tasks. By minimizing unnecessary access rights, the attack surface and potential impact of security breaches can be significantly reduced.
Separation of Duties
This principle involves separating critical functions and responsibilities to ensure that no single individual or component has complete control over sensitive operations. Separation of duties prevents unauthorized actions and helps maintain checks and balances within the system.
Secure Coding Practices
Secure design includes adherence to secure coding practices, such as input validation, output encoding, proper error handling, and secure storage and transmission of data. Following secure coding guidelines helps prevent common vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and buffer overflows.
Encryption and Cryptography
Secure design incorporates encryption and cryptographic mechanisms to protect sensitive data. This includes using strong encryption algorithms and secure key management practices to safeguard data at rest and in transit.
Authentication and Access Control
Secure design ensures robust authentication mechanisms, such as strong password policies, multi-factor authentication, and secure session management. Access control mechanisms are implemented to grant appropriate permissions and restrict unauthorized access to sensitive resources.
Error Handling and Logging
Proper error handling and logging mechanisms are integral to secure design. Effective error handling prevents sensitive information from being exposed, while comprehensive logging helps detect and investigate security incidents.
Secure Communication
Secure design emphasizes the use of secure protocols, such as HTTPS, for communication between components or systems. This ensures the confidentiality and integrity of data transmitted over networks.
Secure design patterns

Client words on CROSS Digital
Rod Lee
Author, Linwood, MA
Got a Project? Let’s Connect.
Need a quote on a re-design or a new project? Give us details on your project and let us help you!

Frequently Asked Questions
Website security can be challenging, especially when dealing with a large network of sites. Having a secure website is as vital to someone’s online presence as having a website host. If a website is hacked and blocklisted, for example, it can lose up to 98% of its traffic. Not having a secure website can be as bad as not having a website at all or even worse. For example, client data breach can result in lawsuits, heavy fines, and ruined reputation.
The main security risks of a website include: vulnerable code, poor access controls, and server resource exploitation. For example, DDoS attacks can make a website unavailable to visitors in a matter of minutes. There are a lot of reasons why websites get hacked; a weak password or outdated plugin can lead to a hacked website.
A secure website has a web application firewall activated to prevent attacks and hacks. It also follows website security best practices and has no configuration issues or known vulnerabilities. You can use SiteCheck to see if a website has a firewall, any security anomalies, malware, or if it is blocklisted.SiteCheck to see if a website has a firewall, any security anomalies, malware, or if it is blocklisted.