docs: add simple security remediation checklist

README.md

@@ -4,6 +4,66 @@ A professional full-stack platform for domain hunters, investors, and portfolio
 
 ---
 
+## Security remediation (required)
+
+This repo previously contained **accidentally committed secrets** (`DEPLOY_backend.env`, `DEPLOY_frontend.env`) and **session cookies** (`backend/data/cookies/session_cookies.json`). The codebase was updated to **Cookie-based auth (HttpOnly)** and the **git history was rewritten** to remove the leaked files.
+
+### Do this now (simple checklist)
+
+1) **Rotate ALL secrets (treat old values as compromised)**
+- **Backend secrets**: `SECRET_KEY`
+- **Stripe**: `STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`, `STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET`, price IDs if necessary
+- **OAuth**: `GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET`, `GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET` (and IDs if you want)
+- **Email**: `SMTP_PASSWORD`
+- **Other integrations** (if used): `DROPCATCH_CLIENT_SECRET`, `SEDO_SIGN_KEY`, `MOZ_SECRET_KEY`
+
+Generate a new `SECRET_KEY` locally:
+
+```bash
+python3 -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"
+```
+
+2) **Force-push the rewritten history to your remote**
+
+```bash
+git push --force-with-lease --all
+git push --force-with-lease --tags
+```
+
+3) **Re-clone on every server/CI machine**
+
+Because history changed, **do not** `git pull` on old clones. The simplest safe path:
+
+```bash
+rm -rf pounce
+git clone <your-repo> pounce
+```
+
+4) **Re-deploy**
+- **Backend**: `pip install -r backend/requirements.txt`
+- **Frontend**: `npm ci && npm run build`
+
+5) **Quick verification**
+- Login now sets an **HttpOnly cookie**:
+  - `POST /api/v1/auth/login` returns `{ "expires_in": ... }` (no token in JSON)
+  - `POST /api/v1/auth/logout` clears the cookie
+
+### Deployment note (keep it simple)
+
+For the new cookie-auth to “just work”, the recommended setup is:
+- **Serve the frontend on your main domain**
+- **Route `/api/v1/*` to the backend via reverse proxy** (nginx/caddy/Next rewrite)
+
+### Env files (important)
+
+- **Never commit** any of these:
+  - `DEPLOY_backend.env`, `DEPLOY_frontend.env`, `backend/data/cookies/*.json`
+- Use templates:
+  - `DEPLOY_backend.env.example` → copy to `DEPLOY_backend.env` (local only)
+  - `DEPLOY_frontend.env.example` → copy to `DEPLOY_frontend.env` (local only)
+
+---
+
 ## 🚀 What's New (v2.0)
 
 ### User Command Center