Cybersecurity Basics Every Developer Must Know
By Rishtaara Editorial Team9 min read
#Security#OWASP#Development
OWASP mindset, injection prevention, password hashing, HTTPS, and dependency hygiene — security built in, not bolted on.
The OWASP Mindset
Most breaches exploit basics: injection, broken authentication, sensitive data exposure, and misconfiguration. Developers are the first line of defense because security bolted on after launch is expensive and incomplete.
Threat model each feature: What could an attacker input? What data crosses trust boundaries? What happens if this token leaks?
Practical Defenses
- Parameterized queries or ORMs — never concatenate SQL strings.
- Hash passwords with bcrypt or Argon2; never store plaintext.
- HTTPS everywhere; set secure, HttpOnly cookies for sessions.
- Principle of least privilege for database and cloud IAM roles.
- Keep dependencies updated; automate vulnerability scanning in CI.
Social Engineering Awareness
Phishing beats firewalls when developers click malicious links or paste secrets into fake support forms. Use hardware keys or app-based 2FA for GitHub, email, and cloud consoles.
Key Takeaways
- Learn OWASP Top 10 and apply it during code review, not after incidents.
- Never trust user input — validate, sanitize, parameterize.
- Secrets belong in vaults and env vars, never in Git history.
- 2FA on every critical account is baseline hygiene in 2025.