Security-by-Design: DevSecOps as Competitive Advantage
Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. Except shipping code without threat models—that's just gambling with someone else's data.
Think for yourself. Question authority. Especially the authority that says "security slows us down." Our security-by-design is our velocity.
At Hack23, security isn't bolted on—it's architected in from commit one. STRIDE threat modeling before code, 80% test coverage minimum, SLSA 3 build attestations, OpenSSF Scorecard 7.0+ targets. Every repository includes SECURITY_ARCHITECTURE.md, THREAT_MODEL.md, comprehensive test plans, and automated CI/CD security gates. This isn't overhead—it's systematic operational excellence creating measurable competitive advantages.
ILLUMINATION: Most companies write code first, add security later, ship vulnerabilities always. We threat model first, test continuously, ship evidence publicly.
Our approach combines bleeding-edge development velocity (daily dependency updates, auto-merge on green) with enterprise-grade security controls (mandatory threat models, 80% coverage, SLSA attestations). This demonstrates our cybersecurity consulting expertise through living proof—not promises. Full technical implementation in our public Secure Development Policy.
The Five Pillars of Security-by-Design
1. 🎯 Mandatory Threat Modeling
STRIDE before code. Every project requires THREAT_MODEL.md with comprehensive analysis: STRIDE framework application, MITRE ATT&CK integration, attack tree development, quantitative risk assessment. CIA scored OpenSSF 7.2—public threat models are proof of systematic security thinking, not checkbox compliance.
Code without threat models is just vulnerability creation with optimism and a budget.
2. 📊 80% Test Coverage Minimum
Comprehensive testing isn't optional. Minimum 80% line coverage, 70% branch coverage. Public JaCoCo/Jest/Vitest reports, automated execution on every commit, historical trend tracking. CIA and Black Trigram maintain live coverage dashboards—transparency over promises, evidence over claims.
If you can't measure it, you can't secure it. If you won't publish it, you're hiding something.
3. 🔐 SLSA 3 Build Attestations
Supply chain security through verifiable provenance. SLSA 3 attestations, signed artifacts, automated SBOM generation, immutable build evidence. Every release includes cryptographic proof of what was built, by whom, from what source. Trust but verify—we provide the verification data.
Unsigned artifacts are promises. Signed attestations are proof. We deal in proof.
4. 🏗️ Security Architecture Documentation
Living documentation, not stale PDFs. Every repository: SECURITY_ARCHITECTURE.md (current state), FUTURE_SECURITY_ARCHITECTURE.md (roadmap), WORKFLOWS.md (CI/CD automation). Mermaid diagrams, evidence links, AWS Well-Architected alignment. Documentation as code means it stays current or CI fails.
Outdated documentation is worse than no documentation. Automated verification beats manual promises.
5. 🤖 Automated Security Gates
Humans make mistakes at 2am. Computers don't. SAST (SonarCloud), SCA (Dependabot/FOSSA), DAST (OWASP ZAP), secret scanning, CodeQL—all automated, all blocking on critical findings. OpenSSF Scorecard 7.0+ targets with public badges. Security gates aren't bureaucracy—they're systematic excellence at scale.
Manual review is necessary but insufficient. Automated gates catch the obvious stuff humans miss when exhausted.
Secure SDLC: Classification-Driven Security Integration
Security integrated throughout development using our CIA+ classification framework:
📋 Phase 1: Planning & Design
- Project Classification: CIA triad, RTO/RPO, business impact analysis per Classification Framework
- Threat Modeling: STRIDE framework + MITRE ATT&CK integration mandatory for all projects
- Security Architecture: SECURITY_ARCHITECTURE.md with Mermaid diagrams before first commit
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: Security investments aligned with classification ROI
💻 Phase 2: Development
- Secure Coding Standards: OWASP Top 10 + language-specific best practices
- Code Review: Security-focused peer review for critical components (classification-based)
- Secret Management: No hardcoded credentials—AWS Secrets Manager with systematic rotation
- Test-Driven Security: Unit tests for security properties, 80% coverage minimum
🧪 Phase 3: Security Testing
- SAST: SonarCloud integration on every commit with classification-appropriate quality gates
- SCA: Automated dependency scanning with SBOM generation (SLSA 3)
- DAST: OWASP ZAP scanning in staging environments based on classification levels
- Secret Scanning: Continuous monitoring for exposed credentials with SLA-based remediation
META-ILLUMINATION: Security after deployment is incident response. Security during design is competitive advantage.
Testing Excellence: 80% Coverage + E2E Validation
Comprehensive testing isn't optional—it's competitive advantage:
📊 Unit Test Requirements
- Coverage Thresholds: Minimum 80% line coverage, 70% branch coverage
- Automated Execution: Tests run on every commit and pull request
- Trend Analysis: Historical coverage tracking, regression prevention
- Documentation: Comprehensive UnitTestPlan.md for each repository
- Public Reporting: JaCoCo, Jest, Vitest results publicly accessible
If you can't test it, you can't secure it. If you won't publish results, you're hiding failures.
🌐 E2E Testing Strategy
- Critical Path Coverage: All user journeys and business workflows tested
- Test Plan Documentation: Comprehensive E2ETestPlan.md for each project
- Public Results: Mochawesome reports accessible for transparency
- Browser Testing: Validation across major browser platforms
- Performance Assertions: Response time validation within E2E tests
Unit tests prove components work. E2E tests prove systems work. You need both or you're lying to yourself.
⚡ Performance Testing
- Lighthouse Audits: Automated performance, accessibility, SEO scoring
- Load Testing: K6 performance validation under expected and peak traffic
- Performance Budgets: Defined thresholds for page load times and resources
- Real User Monitoring: Production performance tracking and alerting
- Documentation: performance-testing.md with benchmarks and analysis
Security at the cost of usability is security nobody uses. Fast and secure beats slow and secure.
Evidence over promises: Every project maintains living test documentation with public results. We don't claim 80% coverage—we link to JaCoCo reports proving it.
Supply Chain Security: SLSA 3 + SBOM + EU CRA Compliance
Modern applications are 90% dependencies—supply chain security is existential:
📦 SLSA 3 Build Attestations
- Build Provenance: Cryptographic proof of what was built, by whom, from what source
- Signed Artifacts: All releases include digital signatures for integrity verification
- SBOM Generation: Automated Software Bill of Materials for every build
- Public Attestations: CIA | Black Trigram | CIA Compliance Manager
🔍 OpenSSF Scorecard Excellence
- CIA Target: 7.2/10 achieved—continuous improvement towards 8.0+
- Comprehensive Checks: Branch protection, dependency updates, SAST, dangerous workflows, code review
- Public Dashboards: CIA Scorecard
- CII Best Practices: CIA Badge | Black Trigram Badge
🛡️ EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) Readiness
- Annex I § 1.1: Secure by Design architecture documentation (SECURITY_ARCHITECTURE.md)
- Annex I § 1.2: Security testing integration (SAST, SCA, DAST workflows)
- Annex I § 2.1: Vulnerability management with documented SLAs
- Annex I § 2.3: SBOM generation for all releases
- CRA Assessments: CIA | Black Trigram | CIA Compliance Manager
Operation Mindfuck the supply chain attackers: SLSA 3 attestations mean we can prove what we shipped. OpenSSF 7.0+ means we followed best practices. EU CRA compliance means we documented it all publicly. Transparency weaponized as competitive advantage.
ULTIMATE ILLUMINATION: Trust without verification is faith. We provide verification data. Signed, time-stamped, immutable, public.
Welcome to Chapel Perilous: DevSecOps Edition
Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. Except shipping code without threat models, tests, or attestations—that's malpractice disguised as agility.
Secure development at Hack23 isn't checkbox compliance—it's systematic operational excellence creating measurable competitive advantages. STRIDE threat modeling before code. 80% test coverage minimum. SLSA 3 attestations. OpenSSF 7.0+ targets. Public security architecture documentation. Automated CI/CD gates blocking critical findings.
This isn't security slowing us down—it's security enabling velocity. Daily dependency updates because we trust our test suites. Auto-merge on green because we trust our security gates. Bleeding-edge releases because we have comprehensive safety controls.
Think for yourself. Don't blindly trust frameworks, libraries, or "industry best practices." Our OpenSSF 7.2 score isn't bragging—it's evidence of systematic implementation. Our public threat models aren't marketing—they're proof we thought it through.
All hail Eris! All hail Discordia!
"Security-by-design isn't overhead—it's how you prove you're not gambling with someone else's data, schmuck!"
— Hagbard Celine, Captain of the Leif Erikson 🍎 23 FNORD 5