SECURE BY DESIGN · SECURITY PATTERNS

Don't re-solve solved problems.

SSO, central logging, secrets management — the same security building blocks come up on every project. Security patterns capture each one once, with its controls baked in. Apply a pattern and you inherit its baseline, so you only assess what's different about your solution.

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WHAT THEY ARE

A building block with the guardrails built in.

A security pattern is a pre-approved, reusable answer to a recurring security need — with its controls, its baseline and its guidance already attached.

Without patterns, every project re-argues single sign-on from scratch: which controls apply, how it should be configured, what evidence to keep. With patterns, that work is done once and blessed. When a project needs SSO, it applies the SSO pattern and inherits the baseline — the controls come pre-selected and the guidance comes attached.

The project then only has to reason about the delta: what's unusual about this particular solution. Less re-litigating, more consistency, and a security posture that doesn't depend on whoever happened to design the system.

The honest version: patterns are how a security team scales itself. The best decisions get captured once and reused, so every project starts from a known-good baseline instead of a blank page.

FOR EXAMPLE

The building blocks you reach for on every project.

Each pattern carries its own controls and guidance. Apply it and the baseline comes with it.

SSO

Single sign-on

One identity, central control. Inherits MFA, session handling and access-review controls.

Identity baseline

LOG

Central logging

Ship logs to one place. Inherits retention, monitoring and tamper-evidence controls.

Monitoring baseline

SEC

Secrets management

No secrets in code. Inherits vaulting, rotation and least-privilege access controls.

Crypto baseline

SEG

Network segmentation

Zones that contain blast radius. Inherits boundary, egress and least-connectivity controls.

Network baseline

WHEN A PATTERN WON'T FIT

Not applying a pattern is a decision, not a gap.

Sometimes an applicable pattern genuinely can't be used. That raises an exception — a documented, approved decision, never a silent omission.

An exception captures why the pattern won't be applied, the compensating control that stands in for it, a risk owner, an expiry and a review date. It's logged to Cybereen Risks for approval, so a skipped pattern is visible, owned and time-bound rather than lost in a meeting.

The result: your baseline is the default, deviations are deliberate, and anyone reading the Security Architecture Document can see exactly which patterns were applied and which were consciously set aside, and why.

SECURITY PATTERNS FAQ

Questions about patterns.

What does "assess only the delta" mean?

When you apply a pattern, its controls and guidance are inherited as your baseline, already approved. You don't re-assess the whole thing — you only reason about what's genuinely different about your solution. Less repeated work, and a consistent baseline across projects.

Who defines the patterns?

Your security team, once. A pattern captures a recurring building block with the controls and guidance that make it safe, so the best decision is made deliberately and then reused rather than re-argued on every project.

What's the difference between an exemption and an exception?

An exemption is a decision not to apply an in-scope control; an exception is a decision not to apply an applicable pattern. Both are explicit, owned, dated and logged for approval, with a compensating control — the "nothing silent" rule applies to each.

Is this a separate tool?

No. Security patterns are part of the Secure by Design module on the Cybereen platform. Applied patterns, their controls and any exceptions live in the platform you already run.

Give every project a known-good starting point.

Capture your security building blocks once and reuse them with their guardrails intact. Book a walk-through and we'll map your patterns to your standards.

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Overview Threat modelling Security patterns Security Architecture Document