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SECURITY ENGINEERING

Summary: Designed and built the platform's security posture as defense-in-depth: a multi-layer request firewall with honeypot responses, layered upload security (magic-byte validation + antivirus + content sanitization), runtime secrets management, HTTP + session hardening, composed multi-factor infrastructure access, and a formal security-controls registry, validated by external penetration testing and driven to remediation.

Request Firewall

Description: Built an application-layer firewall at the single request entry point that inspects every parameter before it reaches business logic.

Layers

Blacklist: Scans all request parameters against SQL-injection, OS-command-injection, and database-attack patterns.

Numeric Enforcement: Strict type validation on declared numeric parameters.

Regex Enforcement: Per-parameter pattern validation from declared parameter rules.

Honeypot: On attack detection, returns plausible fake data (names, transactions, addresses) instead of errors, wasting attacker time and hiding real behavior.

Whitelisting: Per-endpoint parameter allowlist; non-declared parameters are quarantined and never reach handlers.

Edge: Ingress-only model behind an edge WAF with DDoS protection, managed challenges, rate limiting, and TLS enforcement; direct-IP access blocked.

Upload Security

Description: Engineered a layered upload-security subsystem integrated across many upload handlers, never trusting client-supplied content types.

Layers

Magic Bytes: Actual content-type detection via file magic bytes; client headers ignored.

Antivirus: ClamAV scanning (daemon for throughput, standalone fallback).

Sanitization

Pdf: Ghostscript re-render strips JavaScript, macros, embedded executables, and malicious metadata.

Svg Html: DOMDocument sanitization allowlists elements/attributes/URIs and strips scripts, event handlers, and dangerous URIs.

Csv: Formula-injection (DDE) protection via cell-value prefixing on export.

Design Choice: Fail-open by design for availability, unavailable scanners log a warning rather than block, a deliberate, documented trade-off.

Logging: Structured security-event logging with threat/reject/sanitize/warning/error levels.

Authz

Description: Built access control spanning session hierarchy, feature gating, and explicit PII protection. (Auth mechanics in COMP-09.)

Mechanisms

Secrets

Description: Removed credentials from code entirely.

Mechanism: All keys/credentials/secrets retrieved at runtime from a cloud secrets manager, with a resilient short-TTL cache (silently no-ops if the cache is down); nothing baked into source.

Infrastructure

Description: Designed hardened infrastructure access and platform hardening.

Bridge Ssh: Composed four-factor access to servers: a persistent bridge key, a platform password, a bridge-local password, and a weekly-expiring target-server key. Targets accept no direct internet SSH, all access routes through a single bridge.

Hardening

Headers: HSTS, nosniff, frame-options; content-security-policy rollout (report-only first).

Sessions: Secure + SameSite cookie attributes, reduced session timeout, split auth/XSRF cookie plan.

Rate Limiting: Redis-based escalating lockout on auth endpoints (tiered cooldowns + admin alerts).

Password Policy: Length + complexity requirements, common-password dictionary check, non-equal-to-identity check.

Fleet: Managed endpoint fleet via a device-management platform, layered on OS-native protections and edge DNS filtering.

Immutable Infra: Versioned server images bound compromise dwell time and enable rapid redeploy-based recovery.

Governance

Description: Ran security as a governed, measurable program.

Controls Registry: A cross-cutting registry of security controls with coverage and status (active / partial / planned / remediation).

Pentest

Detail: Commissioned an external penetration test; triaged findings by severity into a phased remediation plan (quick wins → core hardening → ongoing).

Outcome: Validated absence of injection/XSS/SSRF/SSTI/request-smuggling/session-fixation classes; enforced CSRF and vertical authorization; tracked each vulnerability to a remediation timeline with documented, reasoned exceptions.

Cross Reference

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