Developer Tooling Standard – Production Environments & PII Handling

docs/technical-standards/Reference/Development-standards/Production Environment Tools & PII Handling.md

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+---
+title: Production Environment Tools & PII Handling
+sidebar_position: 1
+---
+
+# Production Environment Tools & PII Handling
+# 1. Purpose
+
+This standard defines minimum security and privacy expectations for developers when using third-party tools (like Postman) to access Hackney’s production environments or interact with Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
+
+The goal is to reduce the risk of exposing sensitive resident data through insecure or inappropriate tooling.
+
+# 2. Scope
+
+Applies to all Hackney Council staff, contractors, and third parties who access production environments or handle production data containing PII.
+
+Covers all development, testing, debugging, or API interaction tools used in production contexts.
+
+# 3. Requirements
+
+## Tool Usage in Production Environments
+
+### Prohibited Use of Unvetted Tools
+
+Developers **must not** use third-party tools to access production environments or handle production PII unless they have a clear and documented understanding of how the tool manages, stores, and transmits data, and are satisfied that its use aligns with Hackney’s security and data protection standards.
+
+Where a new tool is approved for use, supporting evidence of this assessment **must** be recorded in the [Hackney Service Catalogue](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QoinQ9Yvlr4gvUoROYAA8vDWOWyXw7-vokZmPEH296A/edit?gid=1633075159#gid=1633075159) in columns Q to U.
+
+### Approval Process for New Tools
+
+Before using any new tool in a production environment — particularly where it may interact with PII — developers **must** complete the [Developer Tool Assessment Checklist](https://forms.gle/j9fWxAHvHdMrZ8wq8).
+
+Once the checklist is submitted:
+
+- The developer **must** notify the Head of Engineering, who will review the responses for overall suitability.
+- If the tool is approved, the developer **must** add it to the [Hackney Service Catalogue](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QoinQ9Yvlr4gvUoROYAA8vDWOWyXw7-vokZmPEH296A/edit?gid=1633075159#gid=1633075159) along with all supporting evidence, such as privacy policies, configuration screenshots, or network behavior logs. This is so that its use is documented and visible to relevant teams.
+
+### Assessment Criteria for Tool Approval
+
+When assessing a tool for use in production environments with PII, the following minimum requirements apply:
+
+1. The tool **must not** store request or response data in external or cloud environments unless this has been formally reviewed and approved.
+2. If the tool stores data locally, it **must** provide controls to securely manage and delete this data.
+3. The tool **must** encrypt data in transit (e.g. using HTTPS/TLS) when communicating with production systems.
+4. If the tool stores data at rest (locally or remotely), it **must** use encryption for that stored data.
+5. The tool **must not** retain sensitive data longer than necessary for the task being performed. Where the tool is cloud-based or connects to external services, it **must** provide a clear and accessible privacy policy explaining data retention periods, storage locations and third party access.
+6. The tool **must** provide mechanisms to restrict access to sensitive data, such as user authentication and role-based access control, especially for tools used by multiple developers in differing teams.
+7. Where the tool collects telemetry, usage data, or analytics, this functionality **must** be disabled.
+   - If this is not possible, the tool **must** be reviewed and approved before use with production systems or data.
+8. Where audit logging exists within a tool, logging of sensitive data (such as request and response bodies) **must** be disabled.
+   - If this is not possible, the tool **must** be reviewed and approved before use with production systems or data.
+
+# Communication and Developer Awareness
+
+## Responsibility for Communication
+
+The Head of Engineering **must** ensure this standard is communicated across all development teams, including internal staff, contractors, and third-party developers.
+
+# Appendix A - Example: Postman
+
+## Risk Summary
+
+Postman automatically stores API request and response data locally and in the cloud (depending on settings), including headers, parameters, and body content that may contain PII.
+
+| Tool    | Risk Description                                                                                                                               | Assessment                         |
+|---------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|
+| Postman | Persistent storage of API requests, headers, and bodies by default. Risk of exposing PII locally or to Postman’s cloud infrastructure.         | Not approved for use with production PII |
+
+This result would then be recorded in the [Risk Log](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UGbxoImySTqDLUWc1Ifbp61iN3uLjfRBaK4lvyZ55Bo/edit?gid=0#gid=0)

docs/technical-standards/Reference/Development-standards/_category_.json

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+{
+  "collapsible": false,
+  "collapsed": false,
+  "label": "Development Standards"
+}

docs/technical-standards/Reference/hosting-standards/Readme.md

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-sidebar_position: 1
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 # Hosting standards
 
 Hosting standards apply to everything we host at Hackney, whether it's built in-house, developed externally, or an off-the-shelf product. If we're hosting it in one of our cloud platforms, e.g. AWS, these standards apply