Introduction

A code grinder as defined by the hacker community reference, the Jargon Dictionary (http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html) is a developer who lacks creativity and is bound by rules and primitive techniques. Developers who become code grinders rarely do so because of lack of ambition; code grinders are born from an environment that struggles with freedom at a developer level.

Some industries hold the belief that rigid rules and boundaries are needed to produce secure, consistent results the banking industry and the federal government are two such industries. Stringent rules apply to development work in these industries, and any others that have a need for strict security. With strict security controlling the developers, little room is allowed for creativity in coding, which in turn, ironically, leads to vulnerabilities in the code.

The old-school thought process in these industries is that if the code is functional, the code is secure; security is thought to happen at the network level, often leaving the code wide open for hackers. Unfortunately, the industries that need to have the tightest security are often those with the strictest policies and procedures regarding any code that is written.

Many businesses put security out of their minds until a crisis occurs. The "out of sight, out of mind" adage often applies. Any money used to prevent security breaches is not thought of as an investment, but as unnecessary spending. Moreover, many companies are moving so quickly to become part of Internet technology, that any "extras" whether security or proper testing that would slow deployment...