Security Principles & Models
Security Principles & Models
Foundational concepts for building secure systems
Overview
Security architecture rests on time-tested principles developed over decades of research and incident response. These principles transcend specific technologies—they apply whether you're building a monolith or microservices, on-premise or cloud, legacy or greenfield.
Core Principles Covered
- CIA Triad & Zero Trust: Confidentiality, integrity, availability and the shift from "trust but verify" to "never trust, always verify"
- Least Privilege & Separation of Duties: Grant minimal permissions, distribute authority to prevent single points of failure
- Defense in Depth: Layered defenses so breaching one layer doesn't compromise the system
- Secure Defaults & Complete Mediation: Secure configurations out of the box, every access request validated
- Fail Securely: When systems break, break closed not open
These aren't best practices (which change). They're principles—enduring wisdom that shapes better decisions regardless of context.
📄️ CIA Triad and Zero Trust
Understand the fundamental security goals and the zero trust model
📄️ Least Privilege and Separation of Duties
Minimize permissions and distribute authority to limit blast radius
📄️ Defense in Depth and Secure Defaults
Layer defenses so breaching one doesn't compromise the system
📄️ Complete Mediation and Fail Securely
Check every access request and break secure, not open