What do you do if you want to showcase your secure coding expertise in an Information Security interview?

When it comes to building secure software, it's essential to start with a strong foundation. Before delving into the intricacies of complex security measures, it's crucial to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals of secure coding. In essence, these fundamental practices form the bedrock of secure coding. Input validation acts as your first line of defense, ensuring that only safe data enters your system. Output encoding safeguards the information leaving your application, protecting against unauthorized access and data leakage. And prepared statements fortify your database against malicious attacks, keeping your valuable data out of harm's way.

For example, in an Information Security interview, one of the ways you will be showcasing your secure coding expertise may be through a portfolio of your work, with highlights of good or secure coding practices, including snippets of code or links to repositories where you've implemented some kind of security feature or fixed a vulnerability. Be ready to discuss the challenges you have been into, the strategies that you installed, and the results. Include certificates, courses, or training that could apply here. Be ready to discuss current security trends and how they will influence coding practice. Show us, through your eyes, how you apply secure coding standards in projects.

Frameworks like Spring Security for Java, Django for Python, and ASP.NET Core for C# offer robust security features out-of-the-box. These frameworks incorporate security controls at various levels, ranging from authentication and authorization to secure communication protocols, enabling developers to focus on application logic while ensuring adherence to security best practices. In conclusion, integrating design patterns that emphasize security, such as MVC, alongside robust session management, authentication processes, and leveraging secure coding frameworks, is essential for developing secure applications. By adopting these practices, developers can effectively mitigate security risks and safeguard sensitive data from potential threats.

In my experience as a secops engineer, implementing secure coding practices has been a cornerstone of my approach to building robust and resilient software systems. One particular instance that comes to mind involves a project where I was tasked with developing a web application for handling sensitive financial data. One of the primary challenges we faced was ensuring that the application could withstand various security threats, including SQL injection attacks, cross-site scripting (XSS), and data breaches. To address these challenges, I adopted a "defense in depth" strategy, which involved implementing multiple layers of security measures at different points within the application.

When developing web applications, ensuring security is paramount to protect against various vulnerabilities, with cross-site scripting (XSS) being one of the most common. One effective approach to mitigate XSS attacks is by sanitizing user input. In this code snippet, the sanitizeInput function takes an input string and uses a regular expression to replace any occurrences of <script> tags (and their content) with an empty string. This effectively removes any potential JavaScript code that could be injected into the application by malicious users.

Example is helpful, you may start by sharing some codes and explain they are working but why they are not secure and then follow example and explain how you could make them secure and explain different ways and options.

In today's interconnected world, security is paramount. However, navigating the landscape of cybersecurity can feel like deciphering a foreign language for those not well-versed in technical jargon. As a crucial bridge between the technical and non-technical realms, it's essential to be able to explain complex security concepts in a way that resonates with all stakeholders, regardless of their level of technical expertise. By leveraging relatable analogies and straightforward language, even the most complex security concepts can be made accessible to non-technical audiences.

Be clear and explain concept and back them with example. It is important not to share theory but to demonstrate your understand concept with real example.

Many people will come in with code examples. That demonstrates competency but not mastery. Mastery comes when you are able to explain patterns you have observed from your experience. For example, when do you typically find SQL injection errors creeping in? Going further, do you have insights of your own that go beyond what can be read in books? Demonstrating mastery is achieved when you can explain not just what you know, but also how you have applied it appropriately.

One thing I find helpful is to share example of the company which you want to work with. Look for security issues in their public website or recommend them best practices and during the interview explain that if you hire me, I will make these correction on the public website. This way not only you demonstrate your skills but also show that you have interest in the company and you have a will and skills to improve the company's code security.