How can we stop the spreading insecure coding examples at training classes, etc.?

[pmeunier at purdue.edu (pmeunier at purdue.edu)]

Quoting "Wall, Kevin" <Kevin.Wall at qwest.com>:


> I think that this practice of leaving out the "security
> details" to just make the demo code short and sweet has got
> to stop. Or minimally, we have to make the code that people
> copy-and-paste from have all the proper security checks even
> if we don't cover them in training. If we're lucky, maybe
> they won't delete them when the re-use the code.

I agree, and would like to extend it: security should be discussed *at the same
time* that a topic is.  Teaching security in a separate class, like I have been
doing, reaches only a fraction of the audience, and reinforces an attitude of
security as an afterthought, or security as an option.  Comments in the code
should explain (or refer to explanations of) why changing or deleting those
lines is a bad idea.  

However, I'm afraid that it would irritate students, and make security the new
"grammar and spelling" for which points are deducted from "perfectly valid
write-ups" (i.e., "it's my ideas that count, not how well I spell").  So, this
idea may be more successful with professionals courses than with undergrads.  As
far as students go, if it's not on the test it might as well be a policy that
isn't enforced, so it's not an option to try to teach it but to not grade based
on it.  Good luck also in trying to get all professors to update their classes
and cover security correctly...  Please share any answers or insights as to this
dilemma.  

Thanks,
Pascal