Designing Secure Software

A Sample Design Document

The following document is a hypothetical design provided to illustrate the process of performing a security design review (SDR) on an actual design. Intended as a learning tool, it omits many details that would be present in a real design, focusing instead on security aspects. As such, it is not a complete example of a real software design document.

Note

Bold text highlights security-related content: examples of good security practice in a design, what features a good designer adds, or points that security reviewers should be raising. Italic text is intended as meta-descriptions about this design document. I use ...