Security Roadmap

Step by step guide

🛡️ Security Fundamentals

  • What is Application Security?

  • CIA Triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability)

  • Security vs Privacy

  • Common Threats (XSS, CSRF, SQL Injection, etc.)

  • OWASP Top 10 Overview

  • Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL)

💡 Understanding risks is the first step in defending against them.

🧰 Web Application Security

  • Input Validation & Output Encoding

  • HTTPS, TLS, and SSL

  • Authentication (Sessions, JWT, OAuth)

  • Authorization (RBAC, ABAC)

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

  • SQL/NoSQL Injection

  • File Upload Security

🛠 Tools: OWASP ZAP, Postman, Burp Suite (Community Edition)

🔒 Authentication & Identity

  • Password Hashing (bcrypt, PBKDF2, Argon2)

  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

  • OAuth 2.0 / OpenID Connect

  • SSO (Single Sign-On)

  • Session Management Best Practices

💡 Never store passwords in plain text — use strong, salted hashes.

🔐 Secure APIs

  • Securing REST APIs (Tokens, Scopes)

  • Rate Limiting & Throttling

  • API Keys vs OAuth

  • Preventing Replay Attacks

  • CORS Configuration

  • Input Sanitization

  • Schema Validation (e.g., Joi, Zod)

⚙️ Secure Coding Practices

  • Principle of Least Privilege

  • Error & Exception Handling

  • Avoiding Hardcoded Secrets

  • Using Secure Defaults

  • Handling Sensitive Data (e.g., GDPR compliance)

  • Secure Deserialization

🧠 Code securely by default — don’t rely on external protection alone.

🔎 Static & Dynamic Analysis

  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

  • Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

  • Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

  • Secret Scanning Tools (e.g., GitGuardian, TruffleHog)

Tools: SonarQube, Snyk, Checkmarx, Bandit (Python), ESLint Security Plugins

📦 Dependency & Package Security

  • Keeping Dependencies Updated

  • Using Package Lock Files (npm, pip, etc.)

  • Verifying Package Authenticity

  • Detecting Vulnerabilities with SCA Tools

  • Avoiding Malicious Packages

🧱 Secure Deployment & DevSecOps

  • CI/CD Security (secrets, permission scoping)

  • Secrets Management (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager)

  • Container Security (Docker best practices, image scanning)

  • Kubernetes Security (RBAC, Network Policies)

  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security

  • Least Privilege IAM Configuration

🛑 Defensive Architecture & Monitoring

  • Web Application Firewalls (WAF)

  • IDS/IPS (Snort, Suricata)

  • Logging & Audit Trails

  • Rate Limiting & DoS Protection

  • Secure Headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options)

  • Zero Trust Architecture Principles

🔬 Penetration Testing Basics

  • What is Penetration Testing?

  • Reconnaissance & Enumeration

  • Manual Testing with Burp Suite

  • Using Kali Linux Tools (nmap, sqlmap, etc.)

  • Reporting Vulnerabilities

  • Legal & Ethical Considerations

🧪 Pentesting is about thinking like an attacker — responsibly.

🎯 Security Interview Prep

  • OWASP Top 10 Scenarios

  • Secure Design Questions

  • Threat Modeling Basics

  • Incident Response Questions

  • Explain OAuth vs JWT

  • Scenario: Secure a file upload endpoint

🤝 Resources & Communities

  • OWASP.org Projects

  • HackerOne / Bugcrowd Writeups

  • Awesome Security Lists (GitHub)

  • Cybersecurity Subreddits & Discords

  • YouTube Channels (LiveOverflow, STÖK, NetworkChuck)