Why don't computer software developers sufficently harden their products?

It's entirely possible to write code that is unhackable. So, why don't software developers do this?

 

It takes skill, time, patience, and endless testing and penetration testing which can be very expensive and time consuming. Also, writing "unhackable code" may or may not be possible based on the situation and type of application as well as the programming language.

You cannot say that any piece of code is "unhackable" as this factor is virtually unknowable. Even with advanced and extensive penetration testing. It is truly not possible to be absolutely sure that a system cannot be hacked.

 

Writing a completely secure code is quite a tall order for any software developer. As soon as a new software is put out into the market, then the 'bad guys' set out to look for a way to by pass any security put in place.So at first, the code may be completely 'unhackable' but as time goes by someone would have come up with a back door key of accessing it.

I think this is the main reason we have to keep updating any softwares we use with time. It helps keep them 'unhackable' for the time being as the developers monitor them for any possible loopholes that may be utilized by hackers.

 

I am from India and I have been in the software industry and write code for last 10 years. The main issue which I have seen from my experience was most of these codes were written by young professionals who just passed out of the college and they do not have enough knowledge on how the enterprise code has to be written. The senior folks just reviews the code whether it meets the requirement specified by the client and not care about the secondary objectives like security, efficiency etc..

 

Not all coders have the knowledge of software security, though it's impossible to write an unhackable code but still, if you have a knowledge about software security, it will help.