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GuidesDecember 5, 2024•5 min read

The Indie Hacker's Security Checklist: Ship Fast, Stay Safe

You're a solo founder shipping at light speed. Here's a practical security checklist you can actually complete before your next launch.

HackNope Team
Security Experts

The Reality of Solo Founder Security


You're wearing every hat. Developer, designer, marketer, support. Security often falls to the bottom of the list—until something goes wrong.


This checklist is designed for reality. It's not comprehensive enterprise security. It's the minimum viable security that protects you and your users without killing your velocity.


Pre-Launch Checklist


Authentication & Authorization


**User passwords are hashed** (never stored in plain text)
**Rate limiting on login** (prevents brute force attacks)
**Session tokens are secure** (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite flags)
**Password reset links expire** (within 1 hour)
**API endpoints check authorization** (not just authentication)

Data Protection


**HTTPS everywhere** (no HTTP, ever)
**Sensitive data encrypted at rest** (database encryption)
**No secrets in frontend code** (API keys, database URLs)
**Environment variables for configuration** (not hardcoded)
**Database backups enabled** (and tested!)

Security Headers


**Content-Security-Policy** (prevent XSS)
**Strict-Transport-Security** (force HTTPS)
**X-Frame-Options** (prevent clickjacking)
**X-Content-Type-Options** (prevent MIME sniffing)

Input Validation


**All user input is validated** (type, length, format)
**SQL queries are parameterized** (no string concatenation)
**HTML output is escaped** (no raw user content in DOM)
**File uploads are restricted** (type, size, location)

Monitoring & Response


**Error logging enabled** (without exposing secrets)
**Uptime monitoring active** (know when you're down)
**Incident response plan** (even a basic one)
**Regular security scans scheduled** (weekly minimum)

Post-Launch Maintenance


**Dependencies updated monthly** (or automated with Dependabot)
**Security advisories monitored** (for your stack)
**Access credentials rotated** (quarterly minimum)
**Old user sessions invalidated** (on password change)

The Quick Win


If you can only do one thing right now, do this:


Run a security scan on your deployed app.


It takes 60 seconds and immediately shows you your biggest risks. HackNope gives you plain English explanations and AI-ready prompts to fix issues fast.


[Scan your app free →](/)


Remember


Perfect security doesn't exist. The goal is to be harder to hack than the next target. This checklist gets you there.


Ship fast. Stay safe.

#indie hacker#checklist#security#solo founder#startup security

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