You can reduce the number of common security vulnerabilities in your own code by using modern C++ constructions as opposed to older C equivalents. Yet, there are always cases when even more secure abstractions prove to be vulnerable as well. It is not enough to choose the more secure implementation and decide you've done your best. Most of the time, there are ways to further harden your code.
But what is code hardening? According to the definition, it is the process of reducing the system's surface of vulnerability. Often, this means turning off the features you won't be using and aiming for a simpler system over a complicated one. It may also mean using tools to increase the robustness of the already-available functions.
Such tools may mean kernel patches, firewalls, and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSes) when applied at the operating system level. At the application level, it may mean various buffer overrun and underflow protection mechanisms, using...
