Security Considerations in Custom Software Development
Custom software must be built secure from day one. Security added later is expensive and risky. This guide covers what to require from your development team: auth, encryption, compliance, and the practices that prevent common vulnerabilities.
Table of Contents
- Security Basics to Require
- Compliance by Industry
- Questions to Ask Your Team
- Frequently Asked Questions
Security Basics to Require
Every custom software project should include these. Ask your team how they handle each. If they can't answer clearly, that's a red flag.
OAuth 2.0 / JWT for auth
Industry-standard authentication. No custom password storage. Use proven libraries.
HTTPS everywhere
All traffic encrypted in transit. No exceptions. TLS 1.2+.
Encryption at rest (sensitive data)
Passwords hashed (bcrypt, Argon2). PII and financial data encrypted in the database.
Input validation & sanitization
Validate and sanitize all inputs. Prevent SQL injection, XSS, and injection attacks.
Role-based access control
Users see only what they should. Principle of least privilege.
Audit logging
Who did what, when. Essential for compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2) and incident response.
Compliance: HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR
Design for compliance from day one if your industry requires it. Add-on later is costly.
Compliance by Industry
Healthcare (HIPAA): Encryption, access controls, audit trails, BAA with vendors. Design from day one. Our healthcare case study was built HIPAA-ready.
Fintech: PCI DSS if handling cards. Data residency. Strong auth (MFA). Audit trails for transactions.
GDPR (EU users): Consent, data minimization, right to deletion, data export. Privacy by design.
Questions to Ask Your Team
- • How do you store passwords? (Should be: hashed, never plaintext)
- • How do you prevent SQL injection and XSS? (Parameterized queries, output encoding)
- • Do you use dependency scanning? (Dependabot, Snyk, or similar)
- • What's your process for security updates? (Patches applied promptly)
- • Do you do penetration testing? (For high-risk apps, yes)
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need a security audit?
For healthcare, fintech, or high-risk data: yes. For internal tools with low-risk data: often no. We can recommend based on your use case.
What about third-party dependencies?
We use dependency scanning and keep libraries updated. Known vulnerabilities are patched promptly. We avoid deprecated or unmaintained packages.
Explore Further
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