Your MVP Isn't Ready: Pre-Launch Security Guide

You have been building for weeks. The features work, the design is polished, and you are ready to launch. But there is a checklist you probably have not gone through, and it is the one that determines whether your launch is a success story or a breach disclosure.

We have scanned hundreds of MVPs. The average pre-launch application has 11 security vulnerabilities. Four of those are typically critical or high severity. Here are the ten checks that catch the majority of issues.

1. Authentication

Does your login flow use secure session management? Check for these:

• Passwords hashed with bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 (not MD5 or SHA-256)
• Session tokens are httpOnly, secure, and SameSite cookies (not localStorage)
• Password reset tokens expire after 15 minutes
• Account lockout after 5-10 failed attempts
• No user enumeration via login or registration error messages

2. Input Validation

Every user input is an attack vector. Every form field, URL parameter, header, and cookie value needs validation:

• Server-side validation on all inputs (client-side is not security)
• Parameterized queries or ORM for all database operations (no string concatenation)
• HTML encoding on output to prevent XSS
• File upload validation: type, size, and content verification

3. HTTPS Everywhere

No exceptions. Every page, every API endpoint, every asset should be served over HTTPS. Set up an automatic redirect from HTTP to HTTPS. Use HSTS headers to prevent downgrade attacks. Most hosting platforms handle this automatically, but verify it is actually working.

4. Content Security Policy

A Content Security Policy (CSP) header tells the browser which sources of content are allowed. Without CSP, a single XSS vulnerability lets an attacker load scripts from anywhere. With CSP, even if XSS exists, the attacker's scripts are blocked.

Start with a strict policy and loosen it only as needed. A basic CSP:

Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; img-src 'self' data: https:; font-src 'self';

5. Rate Limiting

Without rate limiting, attackers can brute-force passwords, scrape your data, and overwhelm your server. At minimum, rate limit these endpoints:

• Login: 5 attempts per minute per IP
• Registration: 3 per minute per IP
• Password reset: 3 per hour per email
• API endpoints: 60-100 requests per minute per authenticated user

6. Secrets Management

API keys, database credentials, JWT secrets, and encryption keys should never appear in your code, your git history, or your client-side bundles. Use environment variables and verify:

• No secrets in your repository (run a secret scanner like truffleHog or gitleaks)
• No secrets in client-side JavaScript bundles (check your built output)
• Different secrets for development and production environments

7. Access Controls

Can user A access user B's data by changing an ID in the URL? This is called Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) and it is the most common vulnerability in web applications. Every data access should verify that the requesting user has permission to access that specific resource.

8. Error Handling

Do your error pages leak stack traces, database queries, or file paths? Production error handling should show a generic error message to users and log the details server-side. Never expose internal implementation details.

9. Dependency Security

Run npm audit or the equivalent for your package manager. Address critical and high vulnerabilities. Set up Dependabot or Renovate to alert you to new vulnerabilities in your dependencies.

10. Security Headers

Beyond CSP, set these headers on every response:

• X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
• X-Frame-Options: DENY (unless you need iframe embedding)
• Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
• Permissions-Policy: camera=(), microphone=(), geolocation=()

Budget 20-30% for Security

If your MVP took 100 hours to build, expect to spend 20-30 hours on security hardening. That is not overhead. That is the cost of shipping a product that does not get hacked. The average cost of a data breach for small businesses is $108,000 (IBM, 2025). The cost of a security scan is a fraction of that.

If you want to accelerate this process, NeuroStrike scans your application and produces a prioritized list of vulnerabilities with remediation guidance. Sign up, point it at your staging URL, and get actionable results in minutes instead of hours.