Sunday, May 12, 2013

Architect with security in mind as a first thought

So if you’re doing a solution architecture review, make sure you first look at the security design of the system including authentication, digital signatures, secret key cryptography, public key cryptography, authorization, and non-repudiation from the perspective of a digital firm. Authentication and authorization are the founding stones of security which needs to be understood and deployed across the enterprise.
http://images.appleinsider.com/att-security-guard-070607.jpg
The use of digital signatures has seen tremendous growth in recent years and with the onset of new technologies, in particular Web-services, promises to be the dominant area in security. Corporate espionage is on the rise, and security can not be overlooked.
Ensure your system vulnerabilities are checked - Cross Site Scripting seems to be the worst offender in modern systems. Make sure your internet-facing applications are hosted on supported and patched platforms. Approach it with an outside-in, basic-first strategy for your IT department instead of focussing on obtuse things like bit-encryption levels first, ensure you can prioritize defenses against the most probably threat vectors first.