Keeping Code Secure As Generative AI Accelerates Software Development
SC Media, Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026
Nation-state hackers. Ransomware gangs. Zero-day exploits. These threats dominate security headlines, painting a picture that enterprise cybersecurity revolves around fending off sophisticated attacks.
But in reality, most incidents start with something far less dramatic: small, incremental code changes made by software developers every day.
Small changes, big footprint
According to a study that analyzed GitHub profile commit-data from over 878,500 developers, the median career developer makes 673 commits per year - nearly three commits per working day. When multiplied across a company's developers, that's thousands of commits each year. While these code changes are essential - powering bug fixes, performance improvements, and security patches - they can pose inconspicuous yet serious software quality and security weaknesses when not properly tested.