SECURITY-CHECKLIST.md

Security Checklist for Public Repository

This document outlines the security measures taken before publishing Containarium to a public repository.

✅ Completed Security Measures

1. Sensitive Files Excluded

Created .gitignore with comprehensive exclusions:

• ✅ Terraform state files (*.tfstate, *.tfstate.*)
• ✅ Terraform variable files (*.tfvars)
• ✅ Terraform cache (.terraform/)
• ✅ Environment files (.env, .env.*)
• ✅ Credentials (*.pem, *.key, credentials.json)
• ✅ SSH keys (id_rsa*)
• ✅ Build artifacts (bin/, *.exe)
• ✅ Logs and reports (*.log, *-report.txt)

2. Git History Cleaned

Removed from git tracking:

• ✅ terraform/gce/terraform.tfstate (contained instance IPs, project IDs)
• ✅ terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars (contained SSH keys, project ID, user IP)

Command used:

git rm --cached terraform/gce/terraform.tfstate terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars

3. Example Configuration Created

Created terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars.example:

• ✅ Contains placeholder values only
• ✅ No real project IDs, SSH keys, or IP addresses
• ✅ Documented for users to copy and customize

4. Code Review

Verified no hardcoded secrets in:

• ✅ Go source code files
• ✅ Terraform configuration files
• ✅ Shell scripts
• ✅ Documentation files

Environment variables used instead:

• GCP_PROJECT - For GCP project ID (in tests)
• Users must provide their own:
  • Project ID in terraform.tfvars
  • SSH keys in terraform.tfvars
  • Allowed IP addresses in terraform.tfvars

📋 Before Pushing to Public Repo

Final Verification Checklist

Run these commands to verify no sensitive data will be pushed:

# 1. Check git status
git status

# 2. Verify .gitignore is working
git status --ignored

# 3. Search for potential secrets in tracked files
git grep -i "<your-gcp-project>" -- ':!*.md' ':!SECURITY-CHECKLIST.md'
git grep -E "ssh-(rsa|ed25519) AAAA" -- ':!terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars.example'
git grep -E "[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}" -- ':!*.md' ':!SECURITY-CHECKLIST.md'

# 4. Check for accidentally staged files
git diff --cached --name-only | grep -E "(tfstate|tfvars|\.env|\.key|\.pem)"

# 5. Verify terraform.tfvars is ignored
ls terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars 2>/dev/null && echo "⚠️  WARNING: terraform.tfvars still exists (should be in .gitignore)" || echo "✅ terraform.tfvars not in working directory"

What Should Be Committed

Safe to commit:

• ✅ .gitignore
• ✅ terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars.example
• ✅ All Go source code
• ✅ All Terraform .tf files
• ✅ Documentation files
• ✅ Shell scripts (startup scripts)
• ✅ Makefile
• ✅ README.md

DO NOT commit:

• ❌ terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars (personal config)
• ❌ terraform/gce/terraform.tfstate* (state files)
• ❌ terraform/gce/.terraform/ (provider cache)
• ❌ bin/ (compiled binaries)
• ❌ Any files with real credentials, IPs, or keys

🔐 User Security Setup

Document for users to follow after cloning:

1. Configure Terraform Variables

cd terraform/gce
cp terraform.tfvars.example terraform.tfvars
vim terraform.tfvars

Required changes:

project_id = "your-gcp-project-id"  # Your GCP project

admin_ssh_keys = {
  admin = "ssh-ed25519 AAAA... your-email@example.com"  # Your SSH public key
}

# Get your IP: curl ifconfig.me
allowed_ssh_sources = ["YOUR.IP.ADDRESS/32"]  # Your IP, not 0.0.0.0/0!

2. Set Environment Variables

# For E2E tests
export GCP_PROJECT=your-gcp-project-id

# For local development (if needed)
export CONTAINARIUM_ENV=development

3. GCP Authentication

# Authenticate with GCP
gcloud auth login
gcloud auth application-default login

# Set default project
gcloud config set project your-gcp-project-id

🚨 Security Best Practices

For Users

1. Never commit terraform.tfvars - Always in .gitignore
2. Use narrow IP ranges - Don't use 0.0.0.0/0 for allowed_ssh_sources
3. Rotate SSH keys regularly - Update admin_ssh_keys periodically
4. Enable MFA on GCP - Require multi-factor authentication
5. Use service accounts - For CI/CD, create dedicated service accounts
6. Review Terraform plan - Always run terraform plan before apply
7. Enable audit logging - Monitor all infrastructure changes

For Contributors

1. Never commit secrets - Use environment variables
2. No hardcoded IPs - Use Terraform outputs and variables
3. No real emails - Use user@example.com in examples
4. Review diffs - Check git diff before committing
5. Use pre-commit hooks - Install secret scanning tools

📊 Sensitive Data Removed

Summary of Sensitive Data Removed from Git

File	Sensitive Data	Status
terraform/gce/terraform.tfvars	SSH keys, project ID, IP address	✅ Removed
terraform/gce/terraform.tfstate	Instance IPs, project ID, resource IDs	✅ Removed
terraform/gce/terraform.tfstate.backup	Previous state data	✅ Never committed

Data Types Excluded

• ❌ GCP Project IDs (except in examples as placeholders)
• ❌ SSH Public/Private Keys (except in examples as placeholders)
• ❌ IP Addresses (except in examples as placeholders)
• ❌ Instance IPs and Resource IDs
• ❌ Email addresses (except in documentation as examples)
• ❌ Authentication tokens or credentials

✅ Final Checklist Before Push

• Run all verification commands above
• Confirm .gitignore is committed
• Confirm terraform.tfvars.example exists and has placeholders only
• Confirm terraform.tfvars is NOT in git (git ls-files | grep tfvars should show only examples)
• Confirm terraform.tfstate is NOT in git
• Review git log --stat to ensure no sensitive files in history
• Test that repository builds without secrets: make build
• Update README.md with current architecture (completed ✅)
• Create release notes if applicable

🎯 Post-Publication Steps

After making the repository public:

1. Monitor Issues - Watch for security reports
2. Enable GitHub Security Features:
   • Dependabot alerts
   • Secret scanning
   • Code scanning (CodeQL)
3. Add SECURITY.md - Describe security policy
4. Tag Release - Create v1.0.0 tag when ready
5. Documentation - Ensure all docs are up to date

📞 Contact

For security issues, please email: [your-security-email@example.com]