Security is not a feature you add at the end. It is a design constraint that shapes every decision from database schema to API contracts to deployment configuration. In 2026, the threat landscape is more sophisticated than ever, and the cost of a breach can be existential for a business.
Here is the security checklist we apply to every project at KodexApps.
Authentication
Use established providers. Auth0, Clerk, or Supabase Auth — do not roll your own authentication unless you have a dedicated security team
Enforce MFA. Multi-factor authentication should be available for all users and mandatory for admin accounts
Token hygiene. Short-lived access tokens (15 minutes), longer refresh tokens (7 days), secure HttpOnly cookies
Session management. Implement session revocation, concurrent session limits, and idle timeout
Authorization
Default deny. Every endpoint should require explicit permission grants, never implicit access
Role-based + attribute-based. RBAC for broad access control, ABAC for fine-grained resource-level permissions
Server-side enforcement. Never trust client-side permission checks — they are for UX, not security
Input Validation
Every piece of user input is an attack vector. Validate on both client and server:
Use schema validation (Zod, Yup) for all API inputs
Sanitize HTML to prevent XSS — use DOMPurify or similar
Parameterize all database queries — never concatenate user input into SQL
Validate file uploads: type, size, and content (not just extension)
Secrets Management
Never commit secrets to version control — use .env.local and .gitignore
Use a secrets manager (AWS Secrets Manager, Vault) in production
Rotate secrets regularly, especially after team member departures
Audit access logs for secret retrieval patterns
The OWASP Top 10 in Practice
Every developer should be familiar with the OWASP Top 10. The most common issues we see in code reviews:
Broken access control — endpoints that do not verify the requesting user owns the resource
Injection — SQL injection via string concatenation, especially in dynamic filters
Security misconfiguration — default credentials, verbose error messages in production, open CORS policies
Outdated dependencies — npm packages with known CVEs that have not been updated
Security is integral to how we Dream. Develop. Innovate. — we dream about resilient systems, develop with security as a first-class constraint, and innovate on our practices as threats evolve.