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Cybersecurity Principles

Master ISAUnited’s 20 Principles.

Strengthen your cybersecurity posture with ISAUnited’s 20 foundational Security-by-Design Principles. Designed specifically for cybersecurity architects, engineers, and DevSecOps professionals, these principles guide you through realistic scenarios and actionable lessons. Master essential skills—from Access Control and System Architecture to Governance and Data Protection—to confidently build and manage secure systems in today’s complex digital landscape.

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Explore each principle, enhance your expertise, and elevate your cybersecurity career today.

Access Control Principles

Principles in this category focus on ensuring only authorized users and systems have access to resources, mitigating unauthorized activities, and enhancing overall system security.

 

  • ISAU-RP-01 Least Privilege: Scenario: Managing a breach due to excessive permissions.

  • ISAU-RP-02 Zero Trust: Scenario: Secure remote work environment configuration.

  • ISAU-RP-03 Complete Mediation: Scenario: Ensuring continuous authorization to sensitive databases.

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Explore Access Control Scenarios on our ISAU YouTube Channel.

System Design & Architecture Principles

These principles emphasize building security directly into system designs, minimizing vulnerabilities, and creating robust, resilient architectures.

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  • ISAU-RP-04 Defense in Depth: Scenario: Preventing multi-stage ransomware attacks.

  • ISAU-RP-05 Secure by Design: Scenario: Integrating security in agile software development.

  • ISAU-RP-06 Minimize Attack Surface: Scenario: Reducing vulnerabilities in cloud deployments.

  • ISAU-RP-07 Economy of Mechanism: Scenario: Simplifying complex systems to enhance security.

  • ISAU-RP-08 Open Design: Scenario: Ensuring security without relying on secrecy.

  • ISAU-RP-09 Fail-Safe Defaults: Scenario: Maintaining secure defaults after a system crash.

  • ISAU-RP-10 Secure Defaults: Scenario: Configuring new applications securely from day one.​​

Governance & Policy Principles

Governance and policy principles guide organizations in embedding security within their practices, processes, and development cycles to foster proactive risk management.

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  • ISAU-RP-11 Separation of Duties: Scenario: Avoiding fraud through clearly divided roles.

  • ISAU-RP-12 Security as Code: Scenario: Automating security checks within CI/CD pipelines.

  • ISAU-RP-13 Plan Security Readiness: Scenario: Preparing incident response plans proactively.

Resilience & Incident Management Principles

These principles focus on enhancing the ability of systems to withstand, quickly recover from, and learn from security incidents and disruptions.

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  • ISAU-RP-14 Resilience & Recovery: Scenario: Quickly recovering from a major DDoS attack.

  • ISAU-RP-15 Evidence Production: Scenario: Using logging effectively during forensic analysis.

  • ISAU-RP-16 Make Compromise Detection Easier: Scenario: Enhancing detection of advanced persistent threats.

Cryptographic & Data Protection Principles

Principles in this category address protecting data through robust encryption methods, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability under all conditions.

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  • ISAU-RP-17 Cryptographic Agility: Scenario: Rapid response to compromised cryptographic algorithms.

  • ISAU-RP-18 Protect Confidentiality: Scenario: Securing sensitive customer data in transit and at rest.

  • ISAU-RP-19 Protect Integrity: Scenario: Preventing data tampering in critical systems.

  • ISAU-RP-20 Protect Availability: Scenario: Ensuring service availability during high-traffic events.

Join the ISAUnited Community

  • Subscribe to ISAUnited on YouTube.

  • Participate in scenario-based workshops.

  • Access practical guides, resources, and case studies.


Together, let’s engineer cybersecurity solutions that matter.

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