Security Best Practices

Build / Integration Guide / Security Best Practices

7. Security Best Practices

⚠️ Critical: Cryptocurrency exchange security requires defense in depth. Multiple layers of security are essential to protect user funds.

🛡️ Multi-Layer Security Architecture

Security Architecture

FUNCTION implementSecurityMeasures():
    // Layer 1: Network Security
    configureFirewall([
        "ALLOW 18141/tcp FROM trusted_peers",
        "ALLOW 18142/tcp FROM localhost ONLY",
        "ALLOW 18143/tcp FROM localhost ONLY",
        "DENY ALL other traffic"
    ])

    // Layer 2: Authentication & Authorization
    implementMFA({
        admin_accounts: "hardware_tokens_required",
        operator_accounts: "totp_required",
        api_access: "jwt_with_refresh_rotation"
    })

    // Layer 3: Wallet Security
    separateWallets({
        hot_wallet: {
            balance_limit: "1% of total funds",
            withdrawal_limit: "daily_maximum",
            monitoring: "real_time"
        },
        cold_storage: {
            air_gapped: true,
            multi_signature: "3_of_5_scheme",
            hardware_security_module: true
        }
    })

    // Layer 4: Data Protection
    encryptSensitiveData({
        keys: "AES-256-GCM",
        database: "TDE_enabled",
        backups: "encrypted_at_rest",
        transmission: "TLS_1.3_minimum"
    })

    // Layer 5: Monitoring & Alerting
    implementMonitoring({
        failed_logins: "immediate_alert_after_3",
        large_withdrawals: "manual_approval_required",
        unusual_patterns: "ML_based_detection",
        system_health: "24_7_monitoring"
    })

    RETURN security_status

Access Control

  • Enforce role-based access control (RBAC): separate roles for viewers, operators, and admins with least-privilege defaults
  • Require hardware security keys (FIDO2/WebAuthn) for all admin accounts, and TOTP at minimum for operators
  • Use short-lived JWT access tokens with refresh rotation for API access; revoke immediately on suspected compromise
  • Require dual approval (four-eyes principle) for any change to withdrawal limits, whitelisted addresses, or wallet configuration
  • Rotate all service credentials and API keys on a fixed schedule and immediately after any team member offboarding

Security Monitoring

FUNCTION monitorSecurityEvents():
    // Continuous checks run on a scheduled interval

    // 1. Authentication anomalies
    IF (failedLoginCount(window="5m") >= 3):
        alertSecurityTeam("Repeated failed logins", severity="high")
        temporarilyLockAccount(userId)

    // 2. Withdrawal pattern anomalies
    IF (withdrawalAmount > userAverageWithdrawal * 5):
        flagForManualReview(withdrawalId)

    // 3. Wallet balance drift
    expectedBalance = database.getExpectedHotWalletBalance()
    actualBalance = hotWallet.getBalance()
    IF (ABS(expectedBalance - actualBalance) > RECONCILIATION_TOLERANCE):
        alertSecurityTeam("Balance reconciliation mismatch", severity="critical")
        pauseWithdrawals()

    // 4. Infrastructure health
    IF (NOT allNodesHealthy() OR NOT allServicesResponding()):
        alertOpsTeam("Infrastructure degradation", severity="high")

    // 5. Audit log integrity
    IF (auditLogHashMismatch()):
        alertSecurityTeam("Audit log tampering suspected", severity="critical")
        freezeAllOperations()

    RETURN monitoring_status

Incident Response

  • Detect: Automated alerts from monitoring trigger an on-call page within 60 seconds of detection
  • Contain: Immediately pause withdrawals and isolate affected systems from the network while investigating
  • Assess: Determine scope of impact using audit logs, transaction history, and wallet balance reconciliation
  • Communicate: Notify affected users and, where required, regulators within the applicable disclosure window
  • Recover: Restore service from clean backups only after root cause is confirmed and patched
  • Review: Conduct a blameless post-mortem and update runbooks, alerts, and access controls accordingly