In what environment is secure coding first practiced?

Secure coding is first practiced in the development environment because this is where the initial design and writing of application code occurs. Developers have the responsibility to incorporate security best practices and maintain security principles from the very beginning of the coding process.

Practicing secure coding during development allows for the identification and mitigation of potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. This proactive approach helps to reduce security risks and ensures that security considerations are integrated into the software lifecycle. By embedding security measures into the code from the outset, developers can create more resilient applications and minimize the need for costly fixes in later stages, such as during testing or in production.

In the other environments, while security is still a concern, it is primarily about verifying, validating, or deploying the application rather than implementing secure coding practices. The testing environment focuses on identifying flaws that may exist in already written code, while the production environment is where applications run live for end-users. The staging environment serves as a final check before moving to production, but it does not involve the initial creation of secure code. Thus, the developmental phase is critical for instilling secure coding principles.