Security basics every small software team needs
You don't need a security department to avoid the common disasters. Seven habits that cover most of the risk.
Bytelights Studio2 min read
Fig. 14 · Technology
Small teams often assume security is a large-company problem, or that it needs specialist tools. The common disasters are mostly prevented by habits, not products.
Seven habits
- Two-factor authentication on everything: email, code hosting, cloud accounts, domain registrar.
- A shared password manager, so nobody keeps credentials in chats or documents.
- No secrets in code: keys live in environment settings, and a scanner checks every commit.
- Least privilege: people and services get only the access they need, and lose it when they leave.
- Updates on a schedule: dependencies and servers patched regularly, not when something breaks.
- Backups you have restored: a backup is only real once you have tested bringing it back.
- A written plan for a bad day: who to call, what to switch off, how to tell customers.
“Security for a small team is mostly the boring things, done every time.”
None of these need a large budget. Together they cover much of the risk a small software team faces, and they make the conversation with any larger client's security review much shorter.
Written by the team at Bytelights, a product and AI studio in India.