security-engineering skill

---
name: security-engineering
description: Security architecture and implementation patterns. Use when designing
  security controls, implementing authentication/authorization, conducting threat
  modeling, or ensuring compliance with security frameworks.
author: Joseph OBrien
status: unpublished
updated: '2025-12-23'
version: 1.0.1
tag: skill
type: skill
---

# Security Engineering

Comprehensive security engineering skill covering application security, infrastructure security, compliance, and incident response.

## When to Use This Skill

- Designing security architecture
- Implementing authentication and authorization
- Conducting threat modeling
- Security code review
- Implementing compliance controls (SOC2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS)
- Incident response planning
- Security monitoring and alerting

## Security Architecture

### Defense in Depth

Layer security controls at multiple levels:

| Layer | Controls |
|-------|----------|
| Perimeter | Firewall, WAF, DDoS protection |
| Network | Segmentation, IDS/IPS, VPN |
| Host | Hardening, EDR, patch management |
| Application | Input validation, secure coding, SAST/DAST |
| Data | Encryption, access control, DLP |
| Identity | MFA, SSO, privileged access management |

### Zero Trust Architecture

**Core Principles:**

1. Never trust, always verify
2. Assume breach mentality
3. Least privilege access
4. Micro-segmentation
5. Continuous verification

**Implementation:**

- Identity-based access (not network-based)
- Device health verification
- Continuous authentication
- Encrypted communications everywhere
- Detailed logging and monitoring

## Authentication Patterns

### OAuth 2.0 / OIDC

**Grant Types:**

| Grant | Use Case |
|-------|----------|
| Authorization Code + PKCE | Web/mobile apps |
| Client Credentials | Service-to-service |
| Device Code | CLI tools, IoT |

**Token Best Practices:**

- Short-lived access tokens (15 min - 1 hour)
- Secure refresh token storage
- Token rotation on use
- Revocation capabilities

### Session Management

- Secure, HttpOnly, SameSite cookies
- Session timeout (idle and absolute)
- Session invalidation on logout
- Concurrent session limits
- Session binding to device/IP

### Multi-Factor Authentication

- TOTP (authenticator apps)
- WebAuthn/FIDO2 (hardware keys)
- Push notifications
- SMS (last resort, vulnerable to SIM swap)

## Authorization Patterns

### RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

```
Users → Roles → Permissions
```

Best for: Well-defined organizational hierarchies

### ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control)

```
If user.department == "engineering" AND
   resource.classification == "internal" AND
   time.hour BETWEEN 9 AND 17
THEN allow
```

Best for: Complex, dynamic access requirements

### Policy as Code

Use OPA/Rego or Cedar for externalized policy:

- Version controlled policies
- Testable access rules
- Audit trail
- Separation of concerns

## Secure Development

### OWASP Top 10 Mitigations

| Risk | Mitigation |
|------|------------|
| Injection | Parameterized queries, input validation |
| Broken Auth | Strong password policy, MFA, rate limiting |
| Sensitive Data | Encryption, minimal data collection |
| XXE | Disable external entities |
| Broken Access | Authorization checks, default deny |
| Misconfig | Secure defaults, hardening guides |
| XSS | Output encoding, CSP |
| Deserialization | Integrity checks, avoid untrusted data |
| Components | Dependency scanning, updates |
| Logging | Centralized logging, alerting |

### Security Testing

**SAST (Static Analysis):**

- Run on every commit
- Block high-severity findings
- Tools: Semgrep, CodeQL, SonarQube

**DAST (Dynamic Analysis):**

- Run against staging/dev
- Tools: OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite

**Dependency Scanning:**

- Check for known vulnerabilities
- Tools: Snyk, Dependabot, npm audit

### Secrets Management

**Never:**

- Commit secrets to git
- Log secrets
- Pass secrets in URLs
- Hardcode secrets

**Do:**

- Use secret managers (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)
- Rotate secrets regularly
- Audit secret access
- Use short-lived credentials

## Compliance Frameworks

### Common Requirements

| Framework | Focus Area |
|-----------|------------|
| SOC 2 | Trust services (security, availability, etc.) |
| HIPAA | Healthcare data protection |
| PCI-DSS | Payment card data |
| GDPR | EU personal data protection |
| ISO 27001 | Information security management |

### Key Controls

- Access control and authentication
- Encryption (at rest and in transit)
- Logging and monitoring
- Incident response procedures
- Business continuity planning
- Vendor management
- Employee security training

## Incident Response

### Response Phases

1. **Preparation**: Runbooks, tools, training
2. **Detection**: Monitoring, alerting, triage
3. **Containment**: Isolate, preserve evidence
4. **Eradication**: Remove threat, patch vulnerabilities
5. **Recovery**: Restore services, verify clean
6. **Lessons Learned**: Post-mortem, improvements

### Severity Levels

| Level | Description | Response Time |
|-------|-------------|---------------|
| P1 | Active breach, data exfiltration | Immediate |
| P2 | Vulnerability being exploited | < 4 hours |
| P3 | High-risk vulnerability discovered | < 24 hours |
| P4 | Security improvement needed | Next sprint |

## Reference Files

- **`references/threat_modeling.md`** - STRIDE methodology and examples
- **`references/compliance_controls.md`** - Framework-specific control mappings

## Integration with Other Skills

- **cloud-infrastructure** - For cloud security
- **debugging** - For security incident investigation
- **testing** - For security testing patterns