Every shortcut you build is a shortcut for them too.
The endpoint with no auth, "just for testing."
The token that never expires, "just for now."
The admin bypass, "we'll remove it later."
Later is where breaches live.
Security is not a wall you build once.
It is a habit you keep when nobody is watching.
Convenience whispers.
Skip the check, it says.
Trust the input, it says.
Nobody would ever send that, it says.
Someone always sends that.
The attacker does not break your strongest wall.
He walks through the door you propped open for yourself.
The default password you meant to change.
The port you opened to debug and forgot.
The log line that prints the secret, helpfully.
You did not leave a hole.
You left a habit that made a hole.
Ask a smaller question than "are we secure."
Ask: what did I make easy today?
And then ask: easy for whom.
Because the same thing that saves you a minute
saves an intruder an afternoon.
The least privilege is the least regret.
Give the service only what it needs.
Give the token only the time it needs.
Give the request only the trust it has earned.
Trust is not a starting state.
It is a balance you spend down.
The strongest system is not the one with the most locks.
It is the one with the fewest doors
and a reason for every single one.
Assume every secret leaks.
Assume every input lies.
Assume the convenient thing is convenient for the wrong person too.
Then build so that even then,
the blast is small.
You will never feel the attack you prevented.
That silence is the whole job.
Guard the easy door.
That is the one they are already trying.
– Serguey Asael Shinder
