Yesterday I wrote about what a one-word status in California’s DROP tool does and doesn’t tell you. The same trap shows up when you build an app: a simple yes or no can hide what it left out.
I’m building a product that handles other people’s business records. I’m not a security expert. This week’s question is one I didn’t know to ask at the start:
How much information does my app really need to ask for?
Here’s what I mean. Say you’re building a sign-up form. It’s easy to add one more field: a phone number, a birthday, a home address. You might use it later. But every field is now something you have to protect, and something that can leak. Information you never collected can’t be exposed.
The same goes for what your app gives away. Every service you connect and every permission you say yes to can pass information along. Free doesn’t mean it costs nothing.
Three questions to ask about your own build:
- For each piece of information you ask for, can you say why you need it, in one sentence? If you can’t, ask whether you need it.
- Where does it go after you collect it? Who or what else can see it, and is any of it handed to another service?
- If it leaked tomorrow, would it matter to the person it belongs to? The more it would, the better the reason you need.
Tomorrow I’ll share the rule I’m building around.
This is general information, not legal advice.
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