🚧 This page is still under construction.

Security should be a priority from day one. While you can iterate on features, security breaches can be catastrophic for early-stage companies.

A good boilerplate and infrastructure will usually cover the basics, but you should always be on the lookout for new threats and vulnerabilities.

If you have some capital, you can consider using ShipSecure to audit your application for you.

Otherwise, we’ve gathered some resources below to help you get started.

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Essential Resources

  • DefendSaaS - Comprehensive guide for securing your SaaS application, including:
    • Preventing abuse and fraud
    • DDoS protection strategies
    • Authentication security best practices
    • API security patterns
    • Compliance considerations

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Key Security Areas

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1. Access Control

  • Implement strong authentication (already handled by Clerk)
  • Use role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Enforce secure password policies
  • Enable two-factor authentication (2FA)
  • Implement proper session management

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2. Data Protection

  • Encrypt sensitive data at rest
  • Use TLS/SSL for data in transit
  • Implement secure backup strategies
  • Follow data retention policies
  • Handle user data deletion requests

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3. Infrastructure Security

  • Enable DDoS protection
  • Implement rate limiting
  • Use Web Application Firewall (WAF)
  • Keep dependencies updated
  • Monitor system logs

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4. API Security

  • Validate all inputs
  • Use secure authentication tokens
  • Implement rate limiting
  • Monitor API usage
  • Use HTTPS only

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5. Compliance

  • GDPR compliance (if serving EU users)
  • CCPA compliance (if serving California users)
  • Industry-specific regulations
  • Regular security audits
  • Incident response plan

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Security Checklist

1

Basic Security

  • Enable HTTPS everywhere
  • Implement proper authentication
  • Set up basic rate limiting
  • Configure secure headers
  • Enable WAF on Vercel
2

Data Security

  • Encrypt sensitive data
  • Set up automated backups
  • Implement data access logs
  • Create data retention policy
  • Plan for data deletion requests
3

Monitoring

  • Set up error tracking
  • Configure security alerts
  • Monitor API usage
  • Track failed login attempts
  • Log security events
4

Compliance

  • Privacy policy
  • Terms of service
  • Cookie policy
  • Data processing agreement
  • Security disclosure policy

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Incident Response

  1. Preparation

    • Have an incident response plan
    • Define roles and responsibilities
    • Set up communication channels
    • Document procedures

  2. Detection

    • Monitor for suspicious activity
    • Set up alerting systems
    • Log security events
    • Enable anomaly detection

  3. Response

    • Contain the incident
    • Investigate the cause
    • Fix vulnerabilities
    • Notify affected users

  4. Recovery

    • Restore systems
    • Update security measures
    • Document lessons learned
    • Improve procedures

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Regular Security Tasks

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Daily

  • Monitor security alerts
  • Check system logs
  • Review access logs

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Weekly

  • Update dependencies
  • Review user access
  • Check backup status

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Monthly

  • Security patches
  • Access review
  • Policy updates

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Quarterly

  • Security audit
  • Penetration testing
  • Policy review

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Additional Tools

  1. Security Scanning

    • ProjectDiscovery - Open-source vulnerability scanning platform that focuses on exploitable vulnerabilities, used by 100k+ security pros. Includes:
      • Real-time attack surface monitoring
      • Custom exploit detection via Nuclei framework
      • False positive elimination
      • CI/CD integration
    • OWASP ZAP - Free security testing tool
    • Snyk - Dependency vulnerability scanning
    • SonarQube - Code quality and security review

  2. Monitoring

    • Sentry - Error tracking and monitoring
    • Datadog - Infrastructure monitoring
    • PagerDuty - Incident response platform

  3. Compliance

    • Vanta - Security compliance automation
    • Drata - Security and compliance automation
    • ComplyCube - KYC and AML compliance

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Code Security Tools

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ESLint Security Plugin

We recommend using @shipsecure/eslint-plugin-next to automatically detect and prevent security vulnerabilities in your Next.js code:

This plugin automatically detects:

  • Insecure URL patterns
  • Unsafe inline scripts
  • Eval usage
  • Common security vulnerabilities
  • Other Next.js-specific security pitfalls

Running ESLint with this plugin during development helps catch security issues before they make it to production.

Remember: Security is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. Regularly review and update your security measures as your application grows and new threats emerge.

Performance