it’s 2026. build like you’re already going to get hacked, because sooner or later you probably will
collect less. only keep the customer data you actually need. anything you never store can’t leak
encrypt everything you keep. not just passwords and card numbers: names, emails, addresses, photos, uploads, all of it. if someone gets into your database or storage, they should find nothing they can read
delete what you don’t need anymore. old accounts, expired orders, stuff from years ago that nobody uses. set it up so it gets deleted automatically, not “someday"
don’t store tokens or api keys unless you really really really really have to. if you do, encrypt them hardcore or put them in a secrets manager. and either way, keep your encryption keys separate from the data they protect
basically: the less data you keep, the less you have to worry about when you get hacked
commit e6224ed
data minimization shrinks the prize, but infrastructure readiness shrinks the blast radius.
the encrypt everything needs some better clarification here. Doing it at the application layer adds massive architecture and performance overhead. Industry best practice is at the storage or engine level. Keep the application layer to PII, secrets and anything else truly…