Skip to content

Is Confidential Data Being Handled Safely—Not Just Accessed?

Type: Structure, DeepDive
Category: Security
Audience: Engineers working on authentication, API design, database access, or log inspection

🔍 What This Perspective Covers

Security isn’t just about access.
It’s about impact when access is misused or leaked.

What happens when:

  • A log includes an email or token by mistake?
  • A screenshot reveals sensitive info in plaintext?
  • A debug export contains passwords?

⚠️ Unsafe Handling Patterns

  • Sensitive fields returned by default in APIs (e.g. name, email, phone)
  • Personally Identifiable Information (PII) stored in logs or metrics
  • Tokens, passwords, secrets shown in admin UIs or exports
  • Unencrypted fields in backup or async queues

âś… Safer Design Patterns

  • Mark sensitive fields explicitly in the schema (e.g. @sensitive)
  • Strip or redact fields before logging, exporting, or serialization
  • Separate auth tokens and business data in responses
  • Encrypt at rest and in transit—not just one or the other
  • Test exports, debug dumps, and logs for sensitive fields before release

🧠 Core Insight

Data doesn’t become sensitive at runtime.
It was always sensitive—you just didn’t label it.

âť“ FAQ

  • Q: Isn’t HTTPS enough?
    A: For transit, yes. But storage, logs, and exports are separate attack surfaces.

  • Q: Should we just encrypt everything?
    A: Not blindly. Encryption without lifecycle awareness still leaks.