1. Purpose

The Project Security Requirements Template is used to identify and document information security requirements that must be considered during the planning, design, development, implementation, testing, deployment, and closure of a project.

The objective is to ensure that security requirements are identified before implementation begins and are translated into clear, testable requirements.

The template may be used for:

• Software development projects
• Cloud implementations
• Infrastructure projects
• Application implementations
• System migrations
• Major technology changes
• New customer platforms
• Third-party integrations
• Product development
• Business process changes
• Projects involving sensitive or regulated information

---

2. Project Information

Field	Details
Project Name	[Project Name]
Project ID	[Project ID]
Project Manager	[Name]
Business Owner	[Name]
Security Owner	[Name]
Technical Owner	[Name]
Project Start Date	[Date]
Target Completion Date	[Date]
Project Type	[Development / Migration / Implementation / Other]
Project Description	[Short Description]
ISMS Scope	[Yes / No]
Data Classification	[Public / Internal / Confidential / Restricted]
Business Criticality	[Low / Medium / High / Critical]
Third Parties Involved	[Yes / No]
Privacy Impact	[None / Low / Medium / High]
Regulatory Impact	[None / Low / Medium / High]

---

3. How to Use This Template

Security requirements should be identified during project planning and reviewed throughout the project lifecycle.

The process should be:

Project Requirements → Security Requirements → Risk Assessment → Security Controls → Implementation → Testing → Verification → Approval

Security requirements should be:

• Relevant to the project
• Specific
• Understandable
• Testable
• Assigned to an owner
• Linked to risks where appropriate
• Verified before project completion

Not every project requires every requirement in this template. Requirements should be selected based on the project’s scope, risks, technology, data, and applicable obligations.

---

4. Security Requirements Sources

Project security requirements may come from:

Business Requirements

• Business objectives
• Customer requirements
• Service requirements
• Availability requirements
• Recovery requirements

Information Security Requirements

• Information Security Policy
• Risk Assessment
• Risk Register
• Security architecture
• Existing security controls
• Threat intelligence
• Vulnerability information

Legal and Regulatory Requirements

• Applicable laws
• Regulations
• Regulatory requirements
• Contractual obligations
• Customer security requirements
• Industry requirements

Technical Requirements

• Cloud architecture
• Application architecture
• Network architecture
• Identity and access management
• Encryption
• Logging
• Monitoring
• Backup
• Secure development

---

5. Security Requirement Register

ID	Security Requirement	Category	Source	Priority	Owner	Acceptance Criteria	Status
SEC-001	Privileged access must use MFA	Access Control	Risk Assessment	High	IT	MFA enabled and tested	Open
SEC-002	Customer data must be encrypted at rest	Data Protection	Customer Requirement	High	Cloud Lead	Encryption verified	Open
SEC-003	Application must undergo vulnerability testing before production	Security Testing	Security Policy	High	Security	Test report completed	Open
SEC-004	Production access must be restricted to authorized personnel	Access Control	Risk Assessment	High	CTO	Access review completed	Open
SEC-005	Security events must be logged and monitored	Monitoring	Security Requirement	Medium	DevOps	Logging verified	Open

---

6. Information Classification Requirements

Identify what information will be created, accessed, processed, stored, or transmitted by the project.

Information	Classification	Owner	Storage	Protection Requirement
Customer data	Confidential	Data Owner	AWS RDS	Encryption / Access Control
Source code	Confidential	Engineering	Git Repository	Restricted Access
API credentials	Restricted	Security	Secrets Manager	Secure Storage
Public documentation	Public	Product	Website	Integrity Protection

Security requirements should reflect the classification and sensitivity of the information.

---

7. Access Control Requirements

Determine the project’s identity and access requirements.

Requirements

• ☐ User access must be authorized.
• ☐ Access must be based on business need.
• ☐ Least privilege must be applied.
• ☐ Privileged access must be restricted.
• ☐ MFA must be used where required.
• ☐ Role-based access should be used where appropriate.
• ☐ Production access must be controlled.
• ☐ Development and production access should be separated where appropriate.
• ☐ Temporary access must have an expiry.
• ☐ Third-party access must be controlled.
• ☐ Access must be reviewed periodically.
• ☐ Access must be removed when no longer required.

Project-Specific Requirements

Requirement	Owner	Priority	Verification
[Requirement]	[Owner]	High	[Evidence]

---

8. Authentication Requirements

Define authentication requirements applicable to the project.

Examples:

• MFA
• Password requirements
• Single Sign-On
• Federated authentication
• Service authentication
• API authentication
• Privileged authentication
• Session management
• Account lockout
• Authentication logging

Requirements

ID	Requirement	Applicable	Verification
AUTH-001	MFA for privileged access	Yes	Configuration evidence
AUTH-002	Secure API authentication	Yes	Security testing
AUTH-003	Session timeout	Yes	Application testing

---

9. Data Protection Requirements

Identify how project information must be protected.

Requirements may include:

• Encryption at rest
• Encryption in transit
• Data minimization
• Access restriction
• Secure storage
• Data retention
• Data deletion
• Backup protection
• Secure transfer
• Data masking
• Tokenization
• Key management

Project Requirements

ID	Data	Requirement	Owner	Verification
DATA-001	Customer data	Encrypt at rest	Cloud Lead	Configuration review
DATA-002	Customer data	Encrypt in transit	Engineering	TLS test
DATA-003	Test data	Avoid production personal data where possible	QA	Test environment review

---

10. Privacy Requirements

Where personal data is involved, identify applicable privacy requirements.

Consider:

• Types of personal data
• Purpose of processing
• Data minimization
• Lawful basis where applicable
• Consent requirements where applicable
• Data subject rights
• Retention
• Deletion
• Third-party processors
• International transfers
• Privacy notices
• Data breach requirements
• Privacy impact assessment where appropriate

Privacy Requirement Register

ID	Requirement	Applicable	Owner	Evidence
PRIV-001	Personal data processing must be identified	Yes	Privacy	Data inventory
PRIV-002	Retention requirements must be defined	Yes	Data Owner	Retention record
PRIV-003	Third-party processing must be assessed	Yes	Compliance	Supplier assessment

---

11. Legal and Regulatory Requirements

Identify applicable legal, regulatory, contractual, and customer requirements.

Requirement	Jurisdiction	Applicability	Project Impact	Owner	Evidence
[Requirement]	[Jurisdiction]	Yes	[Impact]	[Owner]	[Evidence]

The project team should not assume that a regulation applies simply because it is commonly used in the industry.

Applicability should be assessed based on factors such as:

• Organization
• Geography
• Customers
• Data
• Services
• Industry
• Contracts
• Regulatory status

---

12. Secure Development Requirements

For software projects, identify applicable secure development requirements.

• ☐ Secure coding standards
• ☐ Code review
• ☐ Branch protection
• ☐ Dependency management
• ☐ Secrets management
• ☐ SAST
• ☐ DAST
• ☐ Software composition analysis
• ☐ Container security
• ☐ API security testing
• ☐ Authentication testing
• ☐ Authorization testing
• ☐ Security defect tracking
• ☐ Security testing before release

Example Requirement

Security vulnerabilities identified during development must be documented, risk assessed, assigned to an owner, and remediated or formally accepted before production release.

---

13. Cloud Security Requirements

Where cloud services are used, define requirements for:

• Identity and access management
• MFA
• Network security
• Security groups/firewalls
• Encryption
• Key management
• Logging
• Monitoring
• Backup
• Configuration management
• Public exposure
• Secrets management
• Vulnerability management
• Cloud asset inventory

AWS Example

Area	Requirement
IAM	Least-privilege roles
MFA	Required for privileged users
S3	Public access restricted unless explicitly approved
RDS	Encryption enabled
CloudTrail	Security-relevant activity logged
Secrets	Stored in Secrets Manager or equivalent
Network	Production access restricted
Backup	Critical data protected and recovery tested

The exact requirements should be based on the project’s architecture and risk.

---

14. Network Security Requirements

Where applicable:

• Network segmentation
• Firewall controls
• Security groups
• VPN/private connectivity
• Internet exposure controls
• WAF
• IDS/IPS
• Secure remote access
• Network monitoring
• Administrative access restrictions

Requirement

Production systems shall not be directly exposed to the public internet unless the exposure is required, documented, risk assessed, and appropriately protected.

---

15. Application Security Requirements

For applications, consider:

• Secure authentication
• Authorization
• Input validation
• Secure session management
• API security
• Error handling
• Logging
• Secure configuration
• Protection against common application vulnerabilities
• Secure dependency management
• Security testing

Security requirements should be converted into testable acceptance criteria.

---

16. Logging and Monitoring Requirements

Identify security events that must be logged.

Examples:

• Authentication
• Failed authentication
• Privileged activity
• Administrative changes
• Security configuration changes
• Sensitive data access
• API activity
• Security alerts
• Important application events

Requirements

Requirement	Priority	Owner	Verification
Privileged activities must be logged	High	DevOps	Log review
Security alerts must be monitored	High	Security	Alert test
Logs must be protected from unauthorized modification	High	IT	Configuration review

---

17. Vulnerability Management Requirements

The project should define requirements for identifying and managing vulnerabilities.

• Vulnerability scanning
• Dependency scanning
• Code security testing
• Infrastructure scanning
• Penetration testing where appropriate
• Vulnerability prioritization
• Remediation
• Risk acceptance
• Verification

Example

Critical security vulnerabilities identified before production deployment must be remediated or formally risk accepted by an authorized risk owner.

The organization should define its own remediation targets based on risk rather than treating example timelines as universal requirements.

---

18. Security Testing Requirements

Determine what security testing is appropriate.

Test	Applicable	Timing	Owner	Evidence
Code Review	Yes	Development	Engineering	Review record
Vulnerability Scan	Yes	Pre-release	Security	Scan report
VAPT	Yes	Pre-production	Security	VAPT report
Penetration Test	Risk-based	Pre-production	Security	Pentest report
Cloud Configuration Review	Yes	Pre-production	Cloud Team	Review report

Testing should be proportionate to the project’s risk.

---

19. Change Management Requirements

Project changes should address:

• Change authorization
• Security impact assessment
• Testing
• Approval
• Emergency changes
• Rollback
• Deployment records

Example Requirement

Changes affecting security controls, production infrastructure, authentication, or sensitive data must undergo an appropriate security impact assessment before implementation.

---

20. Backup and Recovery Requirements

Where applicable:

• Backup frequency
• Backup scope
• Backup protection
• Encryption
• Access control
• Retention
• Recovery objectives
• Recovery testing
• Disaster recovery

Project Requirements

Requirement	Target	Owner	Verification
Critical database backup	[Frequency]	Cloud Lead	Backup record
Recovery testing	[Frequency]	IT	Test report
Backup access	Restricted	Security	Access review

---

21. Third-Party Security Requirements

For suppliers and third-party services:

• Security due diligence
• Contractual security requirements
• Confidentiality
• Data protection
• Access control
• Security incident notification
• Vulnerability management
• Business continuity
• Subcontractor requirements
• Secure termination/exit

Requirement

Third parties with access to project information or systems must be assessed and approved according to the organization’s supplier security process.

---

22. Physical Security Requirements

Where physical infrastructure or sensitive physical assets are involved, consider:

• Physical access
• Data center security
• Equipment protection
• Visitor controls
• Secure disposal
• Environmental protection
• Media protection

For cloud-only projects, physical controls may primarily be addressed through the cloud provider’s security arrangements and supplier assurance.

---

23. Business Continuity Requirements

Determine whether the project has continuity requirements.

Consider:

• Critical business processes
• Recovery Time Objective (RTO)
• Recovery Point Objective (RPO)
• Availability requirements
• Disaster recovery
• Backup
• Failover
• Recovery testing
• Dependency on suppliers/cloud providers

---

24. Incident Response Requirements

The project should define:

• Security incident reporting
• Escalation
• Security contacts
• Incident severity
• Evidence preservation
• Customer communication
• Regulatory notification where applicable
• Recovery requirements

The project should integrate with the organization’s existing Incident Management Procedure rather than creating an isolated process unnecessarily.

---

25. Security Requirements Traceability Matrix

A traceability matrix can demonstrate that security requirements were actually implemented and verified.

Requirement ID	Requirement	Risk ID	Control	Implementation	Test	Evidence	Status
SEC-001	MFA for privileged access	R-001	Access Control	AWS IAM MFA	Configuration Test	IAM Report	Complete
SEC-002	Encrypt customer database	R-002	Data Protection	RDS Encryption	Configuration Test	AWS Evidence	Complete
SEC-003	Vulnerability testing	R-003	Vulnerability Management	Scanner	Scan	Scan Report	Complete
SEC-004	Production logging	R-004	Monitoring	CloudTrail	Log Test	Log Evidence	Complete

This matrix provides a strong connection between:

Requirement → Risk → Control → Implementation → Testing → Evidence

---

26. Security Acceptance Criteria

Before project approval, define measurable acceptance criteria.

Examples:

• No unresolved critical security vulnerabilities.
• Privileged access protected by MFA.
• Required security logging enabled.
• Required encryption implemented.
• Security testing completed.
• Security findings reviewed.
• Required access approvals completed.
• Backup/recovery requirements tested.
• Required security documentation completed.
• Residual risks formally accepted where necessary.

Acceptance criteria should be customized to the project.

---

27. Security Exceptions

If a requirement cannot be implemented, document the exception.

Exception ID	Requirement	Reason	Risk	Compensating Control	Approver	Expiry/Review
EX-001	[Requirement]	[Reason]	[Risk]	[Control]	[Approver]	[Date]

Exceptions should not automatically become permanent.

Where appropriate, define:

• Business justification
• Risk assessment
• Compensating controls
• Risk owner
• Approval
• Expiry/review date

---

28. Project Security Approval

Security Owner

Name: ______________________

Approval: ______________________

Date: ______________________

Project Manager

Name: ______________________

Approval: ______________________

Date: ______________________

Business Owner

Name: ______________________

Approval: ______________________

Date: ______________________

Risk Owner

Name: ______________________

Approval: ______________________

Date: ______________________

---

29. Review Points

Security requirements should be reviewed at appropriate project stages:

Project Stage	Security Review
Initiation	Identify security requirements
Planning	Assess risks and define controls
Design	Validate security architecture
Development	Verify secure implementation
Testing	Perform security testing
Pre-Production	Review security readiness
Production	Confirm controls and approval
Closure	Capture evidence and lessons learned

Requirements should be updated when significant project changes occur.

---

30. AWS SaaS Example

Consider a startup developing a customer-facing SaaS platform using AWS.

Project Security Requirements

Information

Customer personal and business data.

Assets

• AWS production environment
• RDS database
• S3 storage
• Application source code
• APIs
• CI/CD pipeline

Key Requirements

1. Privileged AWS access must use MFA.
2. Production access must be restricted.
3. Customer data must be encrypted.
4. Secrets must not be stored in source code.
5. Application dependencies must be monitored for vulnerabilities.
6. Security-relevant cloud activity must be logged.
7. Vulnerability testing must occur before production release.
8. Production changes must be authorized.
9. Backups must be configured according to business requirements.
10. Security incidents must be capable of being detected and escalated.

Traceability

Requirement

→ MFA

Risk

→ Compromised privileged credentials

Control

→ Strong authentication and access control

Implementation

→ AWS IAM MFA

Verification

→ IAM configuration review

Evidence

→ Access/configuration record

This demonstrates that the security requirement is not merely documented; it is implemented and verified.

---

31. Startup-Friendly Minimum Requirements

For a typical small SaaS project, the initial security requirements can focus on:

Access

• MFA
• Least privilege
• Production access
• Access approval

Data

• Classification
• Encryption
• Secure storage
• Retention

Application

• Secure coding
• Code review
• Dependency management
• Vulnerability testing

Cloud

• IAM
• Network security
• Logging
• Monitoring
• Backup

Operations

• Change management
• Incident response
• Vulnerability management
• Security monitoring

Governance

• Risk assessment
• Security acceptance criteria
• Security sign-off
• Evidence retention

This provides a practical baseline without turning a small project into unnecessary documentation.

---

32. Audit Evidence

Auditors may review:

• Project security requirements
• Security requirement register
• Risk assessment
• Architecture/design review
• Security testing
• Vulnerability reports
• Access approvals
• Cloud configuration
• Code review
• Change records
• Supplier assessments
• Privacy assessment
• Risk acceptance
• Security sign-off
• Requirement traceability matrix

The organization should be able to demonstrate:

Requirement → Risk → Control → Implementation → Test → Evidence

---

33. Final Checklist

Before approving project security requirements, confirm:

• ☐ Project scope is defined.
• ☐ Information and assets are identified.
• ☐ Data classification is defined.
• ☐ Security requirements are documented.
• ☐ Legal/regulatory requirements are considered.
• ☐ Privacy requirements are considered where applicable.
• ☐ Project risks are assessed.
• ☐ Security controls are identified.
• ☐ Access requirements are defined.
• ☐ Secure development requirements are defined where applicable.
• ☐ Cloud requirements are defined where applicable.
• ☐ Vulnerability/security testing requirements are defined.
• ☐ Logging and monitoring requirements are defined.
• ☐ Backup/recovery requirements are defined.
• ☐ Supplier requirements are defined where applicable.
• ☐ Security acceptance criteria are defined.
• ☐ Exceptions are documented.
• ☐ Requirement owners are assigned.
• ☐ Verification evidence is defined.
• ☐ Security approval is obtained.

---

34. Final Principle

A good Project Security Requirements document should answer:

What are we building?

What information and assets are involved?

What could go wrong?

What security requirements apply?

How will those requirements be implemented?

How will we test them?

What evidence will prove they work?

The complete lifecycle is:

Identify → Define → Assess → Design → Implement → Test → Verify → Approve → Monitor → Improve