Secure Coding Practices vs Ad Hoc Security

Developers should learn and use secure coding practices to protect applications from cyber threats, data breaches, and compliance violations, which are critical in industries like finance, healthcare, and e-commerce meets developers might use ad hoc security in fast-paced, agile projects where rapid prototyping or tight deadlines lead to deferred security considerations, or in small teams lacking dedicated security expertise. Here's our take.

Secure Coding Practices

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use secure coding practices to protect applications from cyber threats, data breaches, and compliance violations, which are critical in industries like finance, healthcare, and e-commerce

Pros

• It reduces the risk of exploits like SQL injection or cross-site scripting, saving costs on security patches and reputational damage
• Related to: owasp-top-10, static-code-analysis

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Ad Hoc Security

Developers might use Ad Hoc Security in fast-paced, agile projects where rapid prototyping or tight deadlines lead to deferred security considerations, or in small teams lacking dedicated security expertise

Pros

• It can serve as a temporary stopgap in emergency situations, such as responding to a newly discovered exploit, but it is generally discouraged for long-term use due to its inconsistency and higher risk of oversight
• Related to: security-by-design, devsecops

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Secure Coding Practices is a concept while Ad Hoc Security is a methodology. We picked Secure Coding Practices based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Secure Coding Practices wins

Based on overall popularity. Secure Coding Practices is more widely used, but Ad Hoc Security excels in its own space.