Security Best Practices

Security best practices for deploying TealTiger governance in production. These recommendations assume the v1.3 separation of duties model where governance teams define policy and developers consume it.

1. Always Use fail_closed

The engine should DENY on internal errors, not allow ungoverned requests through:

const engine = new TealEngine({
  fail_behavior: 'fail_closed',  // Default — keep it
});

Risk mitigated: An attacker cannot bypass governance by triggering module failures.

2. Sign and Verify Policy Bundles

Never load unsigned bundles in production. Verify Ed25519 signatures on every load:

const engine = new TealEngine({
  bundle: await loadBundle('./governance/bundle.signed.json'),
  bundle_verification: {
    public_key: process.env.GOVERNANCE_PUBLIC_KEY,
    require_signature: true,
  },
});

Risk mitigated: Tampered or unauthorized policy bundles are rejected before evaluation.

3. Set FREEZE Rules for Critical Safety Controls

FREEZE rules are your non-negotiable safety net. Set them for actions that must never happen:

freeze: [
  { id: 'FREEZE-001', condition: { action: 'database.drop' }, reason: 'FREEZE_DATABASE_DROP' },
  { id: 'FREEZE-002', condition: { action: 'governance.*.modify' }, reason: 'FREEZE_GOVERNANCE_MODIFICATION' },
  { id: 'FREEZE-003', condition: { action: 'system.shutdown', environment: 'production' }, reason: 'FREEZE_PROD_SHUTDOWN' },
]

Risk mitigated: Critical actions blocked regardless of policy changes, hot-swaps, or application code.

4. Require Agent Attestation

Verify agent identity cryptographically before evaluation:

nhi: {
  require_attestation: true,
  attestation: {
    methods: ['signed-jwt', 'workload-identity'],
    clock_skew_tolerance: '30s',
  },
}

Risk mitigated: Unauthorized processes cannot impersonate registered agents.

5. Enable Zero Standing Privilege

No agent should hold permanent elevated permissions:

zsp_config: {
  enabled: true,
  max_grant_duration: '15m',  // Short-lived grants
  require_approval: true,     // Human approval for elevation
  auto_expiry: true,          // Grants expire automatically
}

Risk mitigated: Compromised agents have limited blast radius — grants expire automatically.

6. Bind Governance to Workload Identity

Tie the governance bundle to a specific platform workload identity:

# In the signed bundle (set by governance team)
workload_binding:
  platform: kubernetes
  namespace: production
  service_account: ai-agent-sa

Risk mitigated: Bundle cannot be used in unauthorized environments or by unauthorized workloads.

7. Monitor Tamper Attempts

Alert on TAMPER_ATTEMPT and FREEZE_TAMPER_ATTEMPT events — these indicate someone is trying to bypass governance:

response_hooks: [{
  id: 'tamper-alert',
  trigger: 'freeze_tamper',
  endpoint: process.env.PAGERDUTY_WEBHOOK,
  rate_limit: { max_per_minute: 5 },
}]

Risk mitigated: Bypass attempts are detected and alerted in real-time.

8. Use Audit Redaction in Production

Never log raw prompts, completions, or PII in production audit trails:

audit: {
  enabled: true,
  redaction_mode: 'metadata-only',  // No content in logs
  outputs: [
    { type: 'file', path: './audit/events.jsonl', rotation: 'daily' },
    { type: 'siem', format: 'json', endpoint: process.env.SIEM_URL },
  ],
}

Risk mitigated: Sensitive data doesn’t leak into log storage, SIEM, or backup systems.

9. Enable TealProof for Non-Repudiation

Cryptographic receipts prove governance was enforced at a specific time:

proof: {
  receipts: true,
  passport: true,
  tsa: 'https://freetsa.org/tsr',  // RFC 3161 timestamping
}

Risk mitigated: Evidence cannot be fabricated after the fact. Third parties can independently verify governance was active.

10. Restrict Bundle Sources

Only accept policy bundles from approved registries:

bundle_verification: {
  allowed_sources: ['s3://acme-governance-bundles/', '@acme/governance-bundle'],
  require_signature: true,
  public_key: process.env.GOVERNANCE_PUBLIC_KEY,
}

Risk mitigated: Prevents loading bundles from unauthorized sources (supply chain attack).

Security Checklist

Control	Status	Notes
`fail_closed` enabled	☐	Default — verify not overridden
Bundle signature verification	☐	Ed25519, governance team’s key
FREEZE rules for critical actions	☐	database.drop, governance.modify, system.shutdown
Agent attestation required	☐	JWT, mTLS, or workload identity
Zero Standing Privilege enabled	☐	JIT grants with auto-expiry
Workload identity binding	☐	K8s ServiceAccount, IAM role
Tamper attempt alerting	☐	PagerDuty/Slack on TAMPER_ATTEMPT
Audit redaction (metadata-only)	☐	No raw content in production logs
TealProof receipts enabled	☐	Merkle + RFC 3161
Bundle source restriction	☐	Only approved registries
SIEM integration	☐	Forward governance events
Content logging disabled	☐	`includeContent: false` in production

Anti-Tamper Controls

Technical details of tamper prevention

Governance at Scale

Enterprise separation of duties model

NHI Governance

Agent identity and attestation

TealProof

Cryptographic evidence

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Governance Domains

Policy Authoring

Architecture

Integrations

Deployment

API Reference

Cookbook

Compliance & GRC

Guides

Reference

Versions

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Dashboard

Blog

1. Always Use fail_closed

2. Sign and Verify Policy Bundles

3. Set FREEZE Rules for Critical Safety Controls

4. Require Agent Attestation

5. Enable Zero Standing Privilege

6. Bind Governance to Workload Identity

7. Monitor Tamper Attempts

8. Use Audit Redaction in Production

9. Enable TealProof for Non-Repudiation

10. Restrict Bundle Sources

Security Checklist

Anti-Tamper Controls

Governance at Scale

NHI Governance

TealProof

​1. Always Use fail_closed

​2. Sign and Verify Policy Bundles

​3. Set FREEZE Rules for Critical Safety Controls

​4. Require Agent Attestation

​5. Enable Zero Standing Privilege

​6. Bind Governance to Workload Identity

​7. Monitor Tamper Attempts

​8. Use Audit Redaction in Production

​9. Enable TealProof for Non-Repudiation

​10. Restrict Bundle Sources

​Security Checklist

​Related Documentation

Anti-Tamper Controls

Governance at Scale

NHI Governance

TealProof

1. Always Use fail_closed

2. Sign and Verify Policy Bundles

3. Set FREEZE Rules for Critical Safety Controls

4. Require Agent Attestation

5. Enable Zero Standing Privilege

6. Bind Governance to Workload Identity

7. Monitor Tamper Attempts

8. Use Audit Redaction in Production

9. Enable TealProof for Non-Repudiation

10. Restrict Bundle Sources

Security Checklist

Related Documentation