front matter
Years ago, I searched Amazon for a Python-based application security book. I assumed there would be multiple books to choose from. There were already so many other Python books for topics such as performance, machine learning, and web development.
To my surprise, the book I was searching for didn’t exist. I could not find a book about the everyday problems my colleagues and I were solving. How do we ensure that all network traffic is encrypted? Which frameworks should we use to secure a web application? What algorithms should we hash or sign data with?
In the years to follow, my colleagues and I found the answers to these questions while settling upon a standard set of open source tools and best practices. During this time, we designed and implemented several systems, protecting the data and privacy of millions of new end users. Meanwhile, three competitors were hacked.