Security Patterns
Zero Trust, defense-in-depth, OAuth/OIDC flows, API gateway security patterns.
Security Patterns is a core discipline within Architecture & Design Patterns. It defines how technology systems should be designed, implemented, and governed to achieve reliable, secure, and maintainable outcomes that serve both technical teams and business stakeholders.
Applying Security Patterns standards reduces system failures, accelerates delivery, and provides the governance evidence required by enterprise clients, regulators like BSP, and certification bodies like ISO. Top technology companies (Google, Microsoft, Amazon) treat these standards as competitive differentiators, not compliance overhead.
📖 Detailed Explanation
Architecture patterns are proven, reusable solutions to recurring design problems. They represent the distilled experience of the software engineering community — what works, what doesn't, and under what conditions each solution is appropriate.
Industry Context: Patterns implemented across all major technology stacks. Cloud provider pattern libraries (AWS, Azure, GCP) extend foundational patterns to cloud-native contexts.
Relevance to Philippine Financial Services: Organizations operating under BSP supervision must demonstrate mature architecture & design patterns practices during technology examinations. The BSP Technology Supervision Group evaluates documentation quality, process maturity, and evidence of systematic practice — all of which are addressed by the standards in this section.
Alignment to Global Standards: The practices documented here are aligned to frameworks used by Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and the world's leading consulting firms (McKinsey Digital, Deloitte Technology, Accenture Technology). They represent the current industry consensus on best practices rather than any single vendor's approach.
Engineering Perspective: For engineers, Security Patterns provides concrete patterns and anti-patterns that prevent common mistakes and accelerate development by providing proven solutions to recurring problems. Rather than rediscovering what doesn't work, teams can apply battle-tested approaches with known trade-offs.
Architecture Perspective: For architects, Security Patterns provides the design vocabulary, decision frameworks, and governance artifacts needed to make and communicate complex technical decisions clearly and consistently.
Business Perspective: For business stakeholders, Security Patterns provides assurance that technology investments are aligned to industry standards, reducing the risk of expensive rework, regulatory findings, and system failures that impact customers and revenue.
📈 Architecture Diagram
flowchart LR
A["Security Patterns
Concept"] --> B["Principles
& Standards"]
B --> C["Design
Decisions"]
C --> D["Implementation
Patterns"]
D --> E["Governance
Checkpoints"]
E --> F["Validation
& Evidence"]
F -.->|"Feedback Loop"| A
style A fill:#1e293b,color:#f8fafc
style F fill:#052e16,color:#4ade80
Lifecycle of Security Patterns: from concept through principles, design decisions, implementation patterns, governance checkpoints, and validation — with feedback loops for continuous improvement.
🌎 Real-World Examples
Google eliminated VPN-based network perimeter trust. Every access request is evaluated on user identity, device health, and context — regardless of network location. BeyondCorp is the basis for Google Cloud IAP and the reference implementation for NIST SP 800-207 Zero Trust Architecture.
✓ Result: Zero VPN dependency across 100,000+ employees; access policy violations detected in real-time vs. weeks in traditional perimeter model
ING's post-GDPR security overhaul uses OPA for all service-to-service API authorization. Policies are version-controlled in Git, reviewed in pull requests, and unit-tested in CI. FIDO2 hardware keys replaced SMS OTP for 53,000 employees — eliminating SIM swap attacks.
✓ Result: Phishing-based compromises down 99.7%; 4 consecutive DNB examinations with zero security findings
Stripe's webhook delivery uses HMAC-SHA256 signatures verified by every consumer before processing. mTLS required for all enterprise integrations. API key scoping (RBAC + time-bound + geo-restricted) limits blast radius of any key compromise. Bug bounty pays $30,000+ for critical API vulnerabilities.
✓ Result: $817B annual volume with zero webhook forgery attacks; industry reference for API security patterns
After the 2013 breach (40M cards via HVAC vendor credentials), Target rebuilt with STRIDE threat modeling for every vendor integration, micro-segmentation isolating payment systems, and Zero Trust for all 1,800+ supplier connections. Now a Harvard Business School case study.
✓ Result: Zero PCI DSS findings in 9 consecutive post-transformation audits; vendor incidents down 87%
🌟 Core Principles
Every aspect of security patterns must be deliberately designed, not discovered after deployment. Document design decisions as ADRs with explicit rationale.
Apply security patterns practices consistently across all systems. Inconsistent application creates governance blind spots and makes incident investigation unpredictable.
Security Patterns practices must demonstrably contribute to business outcomes: reduced downtime, faster delivery, lower operational cost, or improved compliance posture.
Quality of security patterns implementation must be measurable. Define specific metrics and collect evidence continuously — not only at audit or review time.
Standards for security patterns evolve as technology and threat landscapes change. Schedule quarterly reviews of applicable standards and update practices accordingly.
⚙️ Implementation Steps
Current State Assessment
Document the current state of security patterns practice: what is implemented, what is missing, what is inconsistent across teams. Use the governance/scorecards section for a structured assessment framework.
Gap Analysis Against Standards
Compare current state against the standards in this section and applicable frameworks (Enterprise Integration Patterns — Hohpe & Woolf, Gang of Four Design Patterns). Prioritize gaps by business impact and remediation effort.
Design the Target State
Define the target security patterns state: which patterns will be adopted, which anti-patterns eliminated, which governance mechanisms introduced. Express as a time-bound roadmap.
Incremental Implementation
Implement security patterns improvements incrementally: pilot with one team or system, measure outcomes, refine the approach, then expand. Avoid big-bang transformations.
Validate and Iterate
Measure the impact of implemented changes against defined success criteria. Incorporate lessons learned into the practice standards. Contribute improvements back to this library.
✅ Governance Checkpoints
| Checkpoint | Owner | Gate Criteria | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current State Documented | Solution Architect | Security Patterns current state assessment completed and reviewed | Required |
| Gap Analysis Reviewed | Architecture Review Board | Gap analysis reviewed and prioritization approved | Required |
| Implementation Plan Approved | Enterprise Architect | Target state and roadmap approved by ARB | Required |
| Quality Metrics Defined | Solution Architect | Measurable success criteria defined for security patterns improvements | Required |
◈ Recommended Patterns
✦ Reference Architecture Adoption
Start from an established reference architecture for security patterns rather than designing from scratch. Adapt to organizational context rather than rebuilding proven foundations.
✦ Pattern Library Contribution
When your team solves a recurring security patterns problem with a novel approach, document it as a pattern for the library. This compounds organizational knowledge over time.
✦ Fitness Function Testing
Encode security patterns standards as automated architectural fitness functions — tests that run in CI/CD and fail builds when standards are violated. This makes governance continuous rather than periodic.
⛔ Anti-Patterns to Avoid
⛔ Standards Theater
Documenting security patterns standards in architecture policies that no one reads and no one enforces. Standards without automated validation or governance gates are not operational standards.
⛔ Copy-Paste Architecture
Adopting another organization's security patterns patterns wholesale without adapting to organizational context, team capability, or regulatory environment. Always adapt; never just copy.
🤖 AI Augmentation Extensions
LLM agents analyze design documents against security patterns standards, generating structured gap reports with cited evidence and suggested remediation approaches.
This section is optimized for vector ingestion into an AI-powered architecture assistant. Semantic search enables architects to retrieve relevant security patterns guidance through natural language queries.
🔗 Related Sections
📚 References & Further Reading
- Enterprise Integration Patterns — Hohpe & Woolf↗ enterpriseintegrationpatterns.com
- Gang of Four Design Patterns↗ IEEE Xplore
- Microservices Patterns — Chris Richardson↗ IEEE Xplore
- Cloud Design Patterns — Microsoft↗ IEEE Xplore
- Documenting Software Architectures — Bass, Clements, Kazman↗ Amazon
- Building Evolutionary Architectures — Ford, Parsons, Kua↗ O'Reilly