We need heroes to secure our code. Have developers got what it takes?

In a world where cyber threats continue to multiply, are your coders stepping up? Is the human element of secure coding – the all-important developer – ready to play their part in securing our connected world? To answer this question, let’s look at some insights from a recent study on developers attitudes towards secure coding, secure code practices, and security operations, conducted by Secure Code Warrior with Evans Data Corp. ‍

Developers’ secure coding skills – perceptions vs. reality

In the soon-to-be-released Shifting from reaction to prevention: The changing face of application security, 97% of developers surveyed believe they have had sufficient training in secure coding, and 95% agreed that training in secure coding had been valuable to their career. But before we accept these claims at face value, we need to reflect and ask some important questions. Why are code vulnerabilities still so prevalent? ‘Why, if developers are so well trained in secure coding, do the same old vulnerabilities keep cropping up, again and again and again – with the same 10 software vulnerabilities causing the majority of security breaches in the last 20+ years?’  

What’s really going on? 

Developers say that they are well trained in security, but could this be overconfidence? A telling factor is that this positive self-assessment contradicts developers’ own views on the difficulty of secure coding. Even though most developers say that they have had valuable and sufficient training, most developers and development managers still find implementing secure code practices more than a little difficult. 

• More than 91% of development managers say implementing secure code practices is tough. 
• More than 88% of developers find coding securely is challenging. As the all important ‘human element’ of secure coding, developers are not getting the secure code training they need – which points to a need for better secure code training and upskilling that makes security intrinsic to how they think. 

Why is implementing secure code so challenging?

To understand why developers and development managers feel that implementing secure code is challenging, they were asked to identify their major concerns with its implementation.

This revealed that 28% find the learning process challenging, while 24% find that the learning process is itself boring.

These top concerns have associated implications. There is a need for more engaging training because the learning process is hard. There is also a need for training that is more relevant to developers because the learning process is boring, highlighting the need for developer-focused adult learning. 

"I want to learn something so it sticks, and that I can apply to other scenarios appropriately. That would be Secure Code Warrior."
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Senior Staff Software Engineer @ ForgeRock

The missing link

As champions of change in secure coding, Secure Code Warrior takes a human-led approach that makes building secure coding skills a positive and rewarding experience. We get developers fully engaged with secure coding practices through 100% hands-on, fun and interactive training that equips them to identify and fix security issues as they code. All of which reduces cost and time to release by preventing vulnerabilities before they become tomorrow’s news. 

But don’t take our word for it:

"The Secure Code Warrior® portal is a great platform to learn about security vulnerabilities across multiple technologies. It is both, interesting and interactive."
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Security Tester, Small Business Retail Company
TVID: 5AC-3CA-F68

"Secure Code Warrior’s use of gamification has helped us emphasize the importance of secure coding in a refreshingly fun and engaging way."
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Software Engineer, Global 500 Financial Services Company
TVID: B0D-73D-BE3

And there’s plenty more where those came from. So if you’d like to see this new approach to secure code training up close and personal, and see how it turns developers into true security superheroes, we’d love to show you.