Secure Code Is Critical Infrastructure: Hacking Policy for Public Good
Tanya Janca
Policy @ DEF CON 33 · Day 1 · Policy @ DEF CON
In this compelling talk from Policy @ DEF CON, security advocate and author Tanya Janca delivers a passionate and analytical indictment of the Canadian government's approach to software security, framing secure code as an indispensable component of national critical infrastructure. Janca, widely known as SheHacksPurple, argues that the current lack of formal, mandatory, and actionable secure coding policies poses a significant national risk, threatening democracy, citizen privacy, and public safety. Her presentation highlights a critical gap in government cybersecurity strategies, which often prioritize network and physical infrastructure while neglecting the foundational security of the software that underpins all public services.
AI review
Janca is credible, clearly cares, and her free policy artifact is a genuinely useful contribution. But this is an advocacy talk, not a policy research talk — it names real gaps in Canadian government guidance, cites real breach numbers, and offers a concrete template, which puts it well above empty keynote fare. It doesn't, however, reveal anything a diligent reader of CCCS documents and CBC reporting couldn't have assembled themselves.