Secure Development Skill

Implement security best practices to protect user data and prevent common vulnerabilities.

What This Skill Provides

• PII Protection: Hash sensitive data in logs, GDPR compliance
• Input Validation: Prevent SQL injection, XSS, command injection
• Authentication: Secure password storage, session management
• Logging Security: What to log, what to redact
• OWASP Top 10: Prevention strategies for common vulnerabilities

When to Use

• Handling user authentication or authorization
• Logging user inputs (search queries, form data)
• Processing external data (API requests, file uploads)
• Storing sensitive information (passwords, tokens, PII)
• Regulatory compliance (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2)
• When user mentions: “security”, “authentication”, “PII”, “GDPR”, “vulnerability”

Primitives Included

• Instructions: pii-protection.instructions.md – Hashing, redaction, compliance
• Instructions: input-validation.instructions.md – Prevent injection attacks
• Instructions: secure-authentication.instructions.md – Password storage, sessions

Key Security Principles

1. Defense in Depth

Multiple layers of security – don’t rely on single control

2. Fail Securely

When errors occur, fail to secure state (deny access, don’t leak info)

3. Principle of Least Privilege

Grant minimum necessary permissions

4. Never Trust User Input

Validate, sanitize, and escape ALL external data

5. Security by Design

Build security in from the start, not as afterthought

Critical: PII in Logs

NEVER log raw user inputs that may contain PII.

Examples of PII:

• Names, email addresses, phone numbers
• Search queries (may contain names/locations)
• IP addresses (GDPR considers PII)
• Credit card numbers, SSNs
• Medical information
• Location data

Safe Logging Pattern:

import { createHash } from 'crypto';

// ❌ NEVER do this
logger.log({ query: userQuery, email: user.email });

// ✅ Hash PII, log metadata
const queryHash = createHash('sha256')
  .update(userQuery)
  .digest('hex')
  .substring(0, 16);

logger.log({ 
  queryHash,  // Can correlate same queries
  queryLength: userQuery.length,  // Metadata OK
  userId: user.id  // Non-PII identifier OK
});

Example: Secure Search Endpoint

router.post('/search', async (req, res) => {
  // 1. Validate input
  const schema = z.object({
    query: z.string().min(1).max(500),
    limit: z.number().int().min(1).max(100).optional()
  });
  
  const validated = schema.parse(req.body);
  
  // 2. Sanitize for SQL (use parameterized queries)
  const results = await db.query(
    'SELECT * FROM items WHERE name LIKE $1 LIMIT $2',
    [`%${validated.query}%`, validated.limit || 10]
  );
  
  // 3. Log securely (hash PII)
  logger.info({
    event: 'search',
    queryHash: hash(validated.query),
    resultCount: results.length,
    userId: req.user?.id
  });
  
  // 4. Return results (no sensitive internal data)
  res.json({ results });
});

Dependencies

• Validation library: Zod, Joi, or class-validator
• Hashing: Node crypto module (SHA256)
• Password hashing: bcrypt or Argon2
• Session management: express-session with secure store

Related Skills: claude-framework (Security S-1 through S-5), fullstack-expertise