🔐 Securing Data at Rest and In Transit: A Practical Overview

Computer security is slippery—vulnerabilities exist from firmware to frontend. If you’re storing or moving sensitive data, your best bet is a layered approach. Here’s how to think about securing data at rest and in transit in real-world systems.

---

💾 Data at Rest

Data at rest lives in databases, disk storage, backups, etc.

✅ Encrypt everything

• Use AES-256 or similar.
• Full-disk encryption + field-level encryption where needed.

✅ Tighten access control

• Least privilege for users and systems.
• Enforce RBAC or ABAC.

✅ Protect your keys

• Use a key vault (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS KMS).
• Rotate regularly. Don’t hardcode secrets.

✅ Log and monitor

• Track who’s reading/writing sensitive data.
• Set alerts on anomalies.

---

🌐 Data in Transit

Data in transit flows over networks—between clients, services, APIs.

✅ TLS everywhere

• Use TLS 1.2+ with strong ciphers.
• Validate certs. Avoid self-signed in prod.

✅ End-to-end encryption

• Especially for messaging/P2P apps.

✅ Secure internal communication

• Use VPNs, service meshes, or zero-trust networking.
• Don't blindly trust internal IPs.

✅ Defend the app layer

• Input validation, CSRF/XSS protection, rate limiting.

---

🧱 TL;DR: Defense in Depth Wins

You won’t stop every attack. But you can:

• Minimize the blast radius 🔥
• Detect problems early 🔍
• Make breaches expensive and noisy 💸

Security isn't a checkbox—it's a mindset.

---

Want the full post? Head on over to franklinstrube.com