MongoDB Security guidelines and best practices
Today in this article, we will discuss MongoDB Security guidelines and Best practices.
Security measures can be applied while data is at rest i.e. storage level security and while data is at the move.
Obviously, Security is not an afterthought process. You must build your system considering the security and risk exposure. You also need to design a risk mitigation process just in case there is a need.
As with all software, MongoDB administrators must consider security and risk exposure for a MongoDB
deployment.
We will cover the below aspects in today’s article,
- User Rights Management – Enable Authentication and Authorization
- Protect Sensitive Data at Rest – Encryption and Decryption
- Protect Data in Transit
- Data Monitoring or Database activity monitoring (DAM)
- Implement secure key and certificate management
- Restrict Network Access
- Upgrade to the Latest MongoDB version
- Implement – Data backup policy
- Implement – Disaster Recovery plan
- Perform Security Audits
- Summary
User Rights Management – Enable Authentication and Authorization
Control access to sensitive data authentication and authorization at the database level.
Define permissions for a user or application and define what data the application or user can access.
Provision users defined roles defining different entities accessing and managing the data.
- Restrict write access at the application level or admin level.
- Restrict access as ReadOnly for non-admin members.
Use any custom authorization or leverage LDAP level integration to verify (the user using a centralized Server.)
Protect Sensitive Data at Rest – Encryption and Decryption
Protecting data at rest in persistent storage is important. Field-level encryption is recommended for protecting any PII, or PHI, or PFI information.
Leverage MongoDB-supported encryption and decryption mechanism.
- Field-level encryption is supported for MongoDB 4.2 and onwards support.
- With client-side field-level encryption, developers can encrypt fields on the client side.
- Encrypt fields are supported without any server-side configuration or directives.
- Client-side field-level encryption in the .NET/C# driver is currently only supported on x64-compatible CPUs.
For more details visit,
Protect Data in Transit
The below guidelines are more generic but ideal for most scenarios to implement secured data transfer.
- Implement encryption to protect the integrity of data when data transit for two-way communications.
- Enforce user-defined encryption requirements based on the enterprise’s organizational and compliance requirements by following standards, guidelines, and best practices.
- Add Encryption of data in transit using TLS v1.2, and above cipher suites for all publicly accessible sites or APIs or Applications.
- TLS (Transport Layer Security) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are the primary means to over the wire or in-transit data.
- Enforce HTTPS-secured transport protocol for accessing websites, API and database connection, etc.
Data Monitoring or Database activity monitoring (DAM)
- Monitor Data Base Access using Health check monitoring tools if any.
- Whitelist and Backlist of IP and environment to control enterprise access.
- Detect any anomalies or attempts to move data outside of defined boundaries.
- Monitor Databases against malicious activity by firewalls and intrusion.
- Audit and monitor all database activity separately, such as privileged user activities and SELECT transactions, without a loss of performance.
- Produce notifications or alerts when a policy violation is identified.
- Prevent tampering or manipulation of database logs.
- Use of Database activity monitoring (DAM) tool (if suitable ) can be used to report any identify and report fraudulent, illegal, or other undesirable behavior.
Implement secure key and certificate management
- Implement secure key and certificate management process.
- Store keys and certificates securely.
- Apply strict access control on key access.
Restrict Network Access
- Secure network access to your MongoDB server. Configure firewall and RBAC to allow connection only from Authorized IPs or networks.
- Follow the Principle of Least Privilege.
- Restrict administrative access to a limited number of trusted personnel.
Upgrade to the Latest MongoDB version
- Plan and be ready to regularly update MongoDB to the latest stable version.
- New releases often include security patches and bug fixes, so staying up to date helps protect against known vulnerabilities.
Implement – Data backup policy
- Implement a regular backup strategy to ensure a copy of your data is available in case of data loss, data corruption, or any security incidents happens.
- Follow backup best practices, such as storing backups in secure locations and testing the restoration process.
Implement – Disaster Recovery plan
Implement a robust disaster recovery strategy. It is important along with regular backup of MongoDB data to a secure place.
Your downtime and recovery time should address your enterprise application requirements which may be dependent on multiple factors.
Perform Security Audits
Conduct security audits and vulnerability assessments to identify and address any security weaknesses in your MongoDB deployment.
This can include performing penetration testing, code reviews, and infrastructure assessments.
Summary
Security is not an afterthought process in fact it is an ongoing process, and it’s important to stay alert and assertive in managing and improving the security of your MongoDB Database.
Do you have any comments or ideas or any better suggestions to share?
Please sound off your comments below.
Happy Coding !!
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