Security Policy

Effective: March 19, 2026

Machestra is a production scheduling platform designed for small and medium manufacturing businesses. Because our customers rely on Machestra to manage operational data such as machines, jobs, and production schedules, security is a foundational part of how the platform is designed and operated.

This page provides an overview of the security measures we implement to protect customer data and ensure reliable operation of the platform. This policy should be read together with our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy.

1. Our Commitment to Security

We design Machestra with security and privacy in mind from the ground up. Our security principles include:

Strong authentication and access control
Strict tenant-level data isolation
Encryption of data in transit and at rest
Secure infrastructure and managed hosting providers
Protection against abuse and automated attacks
Transparent security practices

Customer operational data is treated with strict confidentiality. Each company's data is fully isolated and accessible only to authorized users within that organization.

2. Infrastructure Security

Machestra is built on modern cloud infrastructure designed for reliability, scalability, and security.

Frontend Infrastructure

The Machestra web application is hosted on Cloudflare Pages, which provides:

Global Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Automatic HTTPS encryption
Built-in DDoS protection
Web application firewall capabilities

All web traffic passes through Cloudflare, which helps protect the platform from malicious traffic and hides the origin server infrastructure.

Backend Infrastructure

The Machestra backend API is hosted on Render, a managed cloud hosting provider that provides:

Automatic HTTPS encryption
Managed infrastructure
Secure containerized application deployment

Database Infrastructure

Application data is stored in MongoDB Atlas, a managed cloud database platform. MongoDB Atlas provides:

Encryption at rest
Network-level access controls
Automated backups
Built-in security monitoring
Infrastructure isolation

Supporting Infrastructure

Additional services used by the platform include:

Cloudflare — DNS, CDN, and DDoS protection
Redis / Upstash — rate limiting and background job processing
BullMQ — background task processing (notification delivery)
Resend — transactional email delivery
Paddle — payment processing, Merchant of Record (PCI DSS compliant; Machestra never stores card numbers)
Socket.io — real-time updates; connections are authenticated using the same JWT session as the REST API and scoped to the user's company

These providers are selected for their strong security and reliability standards.

Push Notifications

Push notification subscriptions (Growth plan) use the Web Push API. Subscription tokens are stored on our servers and transmitted over HTTPS. Users can revoke push subscriptions at any time from their notification settings.

CSV Import & Export

Uploaded CSV data is validated server-side using shared Zod schemas before processing. Row counts are capped, and all imported data is scoped to the user's company. Exports include only the data visible to the user's role.

3. Data Encryption

Machestra uses encryption to protect data both during transmission and while stored.

Encryption in Transit

All communication between users and the platform is encrypted using TLS (HTTPS).

This encryption is enforced by both Cloudflare and Render infrastructure, ensuring that data transmitted between browsers and the platform cannot be intercepted or read by third parties.

Encryption at Rest

All data stored in the database is encrypted at rest through MongoDB Atlas encryption features.

This protects stored information from unauthorized access at the infrastructure level.

Password Security

User passwords are never stored in plaintext.

Passwords are securely hashed using bcrypt, a widely used password hashing algorithm designed to resist brute-force attacks.

Secure Token Authentication

Machestra uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authentication. Security measures include:

Short-lived access tokens (5-minute expiration)
Refresh tokens for session continuity
Server-side validation of all tokens

Tokens are stored in HTTP-only secure cookies, which cannot be accessed by browser scripts. This reduces the risk of token theft through cross-site scripting (XSS).

4. Authentication and Access Control

Machestra implements multiple layers of authentication and authorization controls.

Authentication Methods

Users can authenticate using:

Email and password
Google OAuth 2.0 (optional)

Google authentication is used only when users explicitly choose the Google sign-in option.

Account Security Tokens

Several security-sensitive operations use time-limited tokens:

Email verification tokens — expire after 2 hours
Password reset tokens — expire after 1 hour
User invitation tokens — expire after 24 hours

These short expiration windows reduce the risk of token misuse.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Each user is assigned a role within their company workspace:

Admin — Manage users, configure machines and resources, control account access
Manager — Create and manage production schedules, manage operational data
Operator — View assigned jobs and tasks

Permissions are scoped based on these roles to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive functionality.

5. Multi-Tenant Data Isolation

Machestra is a multi-tenant platform, meaning multiple companies use the same infrastructure while keeping their data completely isolated.

Data isolation is enforced through several mechanisms:

Every database query is automatically scoped by companyId
Isolation is enforced at the database layer, not just the application layer
A Mongoose plugin ensures company scoping cannot be bypassed
Request-level isolation is maintained using AsyncLocalStorage

These safeguards ensure that one company cannot access another company's data under any circumstances.

6. Rate Limiting and Abuse Prevention

To protect the platform from abuse and automated attacks, Machestra implements rate limiting. Current limits include:

General API requests: 150 requests per minute per IP address
Authentication endpoints: 8 requests per minute per IP address

Authentication endpoints have stricter limits to prevent brute-force password attacks.

Rate limiting is implemented using Redis-backed infrastructure for reliability.

7. Application Security

Secure coding practices are applied across the platform.

Input Validation

All API inputs are validated using Zod schemas shared between the frontend and backend. This ensures that only properly structured data can be processed by the system.

Injection Prevention

Database queries are executed using Mongoose, which provides parameterized queries and protection against NoSQL injection.

Cross-Origin Request Controls

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) restrictions are implemented to ensure that only authorized origins can access the API.

Secure Cookie Practices

Authentication cookies are:

HTTP-only
Secure
First-party cookies

These settings prevent JavaScript access and reduce exposure to XSS attacks.

8. Data Backup and Recovery

Machestra relies on MongoDB Atlas automated backup systems. Backup protections include:

Regular automated backups
Secure storage of backup snapshots
Point-in-time recovery capabilities

These mechanisms help protect against accidental data loss or infrastructure failures.

9. Monitoring and Audit Logging

The platform maintains activity logs that record important user actions. Examples include:

Job creation or modification
Machine updates
Inventory changes
Scheduling adjustments

These logs create an audit trail that helps organizations track operational activity within the platform.

Automated system processes also run scheduled maintenance tasks such as:

Cleaning up unverified accounts
Monitoring deadlines and operational alerts

Real-time notifications help users stay aware of critical events.

10. Incident Response

If Machestra becomes aware of a security breach affecting customer data, we will investigate promptly and notify affected customers without undue delay once the incident is confirmed and relevant details are available.

Our incident response process includes:

Immediate investigation and containment of the affected systems
Assessment of the scope and impact of the breach
Notification to affected customers via email with details of what occurred, what data was involved, and what steps are being taken
Notification to relevant regulatory authorities where required by law (e.g., within 72 hours under GDPR)
Post-incident review and implementation of measures to prevent recurrence

Security incidents can be reported to: security@machestra.com

11. Account Security Features

Machestra provides administrators with tools to manage user access within their organization. Administrators can:

Force logout of any user in their company workspace
Activate or deactivate user accounts
Invite new users with time-limited invitation tokens

Users can also:

Update their passwords
Manage notification preferences

These controls allow companies to maintain strong internal account security practices.

12. Internal Access Controls

Access to Machestra's production systems, databases, and infrastructure is strictly limited to authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.

Production database access is restricted to essential operations personnel only.
Access credentials are never shared and are rotated regularly.
Customer data is accessed only when necessary to provide the service, resolve a support request, or investigate a security incident.
Machestra employees and contractors do not access customer operational data for any purpose unrelated to service delivery.

13. Responsible Disclosure

We welcome responsible disclosure of security vulnerabilities.

If you believe you have discovered a security issue affecting Machestra, please report it to us so we can investigate and address it.

Please include:

A detailed description of the issue
Steps to reproduce the vulnerability
Any relevant screenshots or logs

Security reports can be sent to: security@machestra.com

We appreciate the work of security researchers who help improve the safety of our platform.

14. Questions

Security inquiries: security@machestra.com

General support: support@machestra.com