# Security Guidance

Auth0 security guidance provides best practices, security bulletins, and recommendations for building secure identity implementations.

## Security Topics

### General Security Tips

Foundation for secure deployments:
- Authentication configuration
- Authorization best practices
- Session management
- Error handling

### Security Bulletins

Official Auth0 communications about:
- Identified security issues
- Required actions
- Remediation steps
- Version updates

Monitoring:
- Subscribe to bulletins
- Review regularly
- Act promptly on critical issues

### Data Security

Storage and Protection:
- Token storage practices
- User data handling
- Allow Lists and Deny Lists
- Access control mechanisms

### Threat Prevention

Attack understanding and mitigation:
- Common attack types
- Attack signatures
- Proactive defenses
- Incident response

## Security Best Practices

### Credential Management

Dashboard Access:
- Enforce MFA for all administrators
- Regular audit of admin list
- Remove inactive accounts
- Limit admin privileges

Secrets:
- Secure client secrets
- Rotate regularly
- Use appropriate credential type
- Never expose in code

### Connection Security

Active Connections:
- Remove unused connections
- Verify connection configuration
- Regular security review
- Update deprecated features

Enterprise Connections:
- Verify IdP security
- Review attribute mapping
- Monitor connection usage

### Application Security

Configuration:
- Proper redirect URI configuration
- Appropriate token lifetimes
- Secure callback handling
- Input validation

Authentication Flows:
- Use appropriate flow for app type
- Enable PKCE where applicable
- Avoid implicit flow for sensitive apps

### User Security

Password Policies:
- Strong password requirements
- Breached password detection
- Password history
- Lockout policies

Account Protection:
- Enable MFA
- Brute force protection
- Suspicious activity detection

## Threat Prevention

### Common Attack Types

Credential Stuffing:
- Automated credential testing
- Uses breached credentials
- Targets many accounts

Prevention:
- Bot detection
- Breached password detection
- Rate limiting
- MFA

Brute Force:
- Repeated login attempts
- Targets specific accounts
- Password guessing

Prevention:
- Brute force protection
- Account lockout
- Strong passwords
- MFA

Phishing:
- Fake login pages
- Credential harvesting
- Social engineering

Prevention:
- WebAuthn/FIDO2
- User education
- Domain verification

Session Hijacking:
- Token theft
- Session takeover
- Cookie stealing

Prevention:
- Sender constraining (DPoP/mTLS)
- Short token lifetimes
- Session monitoring

### Incident Response

Using System Logs:
- Investigate suspicious activity
- Trace attack patterns
- Identify affected users
- Document incidents

Response Steps:
1. Detect anomaly
2. Assess impact
3. Contain threat
4. Remediate issues
5. Document and learn

## Security Configuration Checklist

### Essential Security

Must Enable:
- Bot Detection
- Brute Force Protection
- Breached Password Detection
- Suspicious IP Throttling
- HTTPS for all endpoints

Recommended:
- Multi-factor authentication
- Token rotation
- Appropriate token lifetimes
- Audit logging

### Enhanced Security

For Sensitive Applications:
- Adaptive MFA
- Step-up authentication
- Sender constraining
- Strong customer authentication

For Regulated Industries:
- Highly Regulated Identity
- FAPI compliance
- mTLS authentication
- Detailed audit trails

## Monitoring and Alerting

### Key Metrics

Monitor:
- Failed login rates
- MFA challenge rates
- Token usage patterns
- Admin actions

Alert On:
- Unusual failure spikes
- Mass account lockouts
- Configuration changes
- Security feature toggles

### Log Analysis

Regular Review:
- Security events
- Admin activities
- User patterns
- Error rates

Incident Detection:
- Anomaly identification
- Pattern recognition
- Correlation analysis

## Compliance Considerations

### Data Handling

Requirements:
- Data minimization
- Proper consent
- Retention policies
- Deletion capability

Implementation:
- Review collected data
- Document purposes
- Configure retention
- Test deletion

### Audit Requirements

Maintain Records:
- Authentication events
- Configuration changes
- Admin actions
- Security incidents

Retention:
- Per regulatory requirements
- Accessible for audits
- Protected from tampering

## Staying Current

### Auth0 Updates

Monitor:
- Release notes
- Security bulletins
- Feature announcements
- Deprecation notices

Actions:
- Apply security patches
- Update configurations
- Remove deprecated features
- Test changes

### Security Landscape

Stay Informed:
- Industry security trends
- New attack vectors
- Best practice updates
- Regulatory changes

Apply:
- Regular security reviews
- Configuration updates
- Training and awareness
- Process improvements
