Follow a request from the client to the service and back. This pillar examines whether communication is correctly configured, reliable and secure, including the intermediaries that resolve, route, encrypt and cache traffic.
All writing
Systems & Security
Network & Connectivity
How systems communicate.
Pillar 01
Definition
Technical areas
- DNS, routing and connectivity
- HTTP/HTTPS, TLS and certificates
- Firewalls, proxies and CDN behaviour
What an assessment could examine
These are examples to adapt to the system and its risks, rather than results from an assessment.
- Trace DNS resolution and routing to identify stale records, unexpected destinations or connection failures.
- Review HTTPS redirects, certificate coverage and renewal, and TLS configuration across the request path.
- Examine firewall rules, proxy headers and CDN caching to understand which services are reachable and whether private responses could be cached.
Possible improvements
Findings might lead to changes such as these. Prioritise the changes supported by evidence and verify their effect.
- Correct DNS records and simplify unreliable routing or redirect chains.
- Address certificate renewal gaps and inconsistent encryption between services.
- Narrow unnecessary network exposure and correct proxy or cache configuration, then verify representative requests.