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08 Cybersecurity

Security by Design is one of the guiding principles here at HSE.

General Principles

Treat all external input as untrusted
Prefer simple and explicit architectures
Fail safely and log security-relevant failures (log level WARNING)
Minimize attack surface and unnecessary dependencies
Apply the principle of least privilege (both when developing and in the final product)
Do not reinvent the wheel (use existing encryption algorithms etc)

Secrets and Credentials

Never hardcode:
- passwords
- API keys
- certificates
- tokens
- database credentials
Do not store secrets in:
- block diagram constants
- typedef defaults
- test VIs
- screenshots
- source-controlled config files
Do not log sensitive information
Solutions
- “AES” VI Package by VIGods
- Better: Store secrets in a place the regular user cannot access

Networking

Prefer encrypted communication (TLS, HTTPS, SSH)
Avoid plaintext credentials and insecure protocols
Validate remote peers (eg using certificates)
- restrict access on a network level (IP ranges etc)
Use existing protocols
Explicitly document:
- timeout behavior
- reconnect strategy
- retry handling

Databases and SQL

Use parameterized queries whenever possible
Avoid dynamically concatenating SQL strings from user input
Validate and sanitize externally provided data before database operations
Restrict database permissions to the minimum required access
Never store database credentials directly in source code
Log database failures without exposing sensitive query data
Explicitly handle connection loss and timeout behavior

LabVIEW Misc

VI Server

Disable VI Server if not required
Restrict network access and permissions
Never expose unrestricted VI Server access on production systems

Dynamic VI Loading

Only load trusted plugins or VIs
Avoid loading VIs from user-writable directories
Use strict connector pane contracts and versioning

System Exec

Treat all command line input as untrusted
Avoid constructing shell commands from unchecked user input
Document all external tool dependencies

File Handling

Validate file paths and filenames
Avoid path traversal vulnerabilities
Restrict writable and executable locations

DQMH and Modular Architectures

Encapsulate queues, references, and communication resources
Avoid exposing internal module resources
Validate message payloads and typedef compatibility
Keep security-related blocking operations outside the EHL

Logging and Error Handling

Log security-relevant events:
- failed authentication
- rejected certificates
- malformed packets
- permission violations
Logs should include:
- timestamps
- module names
- severity
- connection information
Avoid excessive logging in real-time loops

Deployment

Remove development tooling from production systems
Avoid unnecessary administrator privileges
Keep dependencies updated
Prefer signed installers and executables

Resources

EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA)

The HSE Way of Working:
A set of guidelines that recommend programming style, better practices, and methods for all our LabVIEW projects. We ask all our peers to follow these guidelines to help improve the readability of our shared source code and make software maintenance easier.

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