Attack Area (Attack Surface)

Think of your software like a house: the more doors it has, the harder it is to secure. In software, every endpoint, interface, or dependency is an entry point for attackers—the attack area. More code and more third-party libraries mean more vulnerabilities.

Java and JavaScript often lead to large attack areas because they rely on extensive frameworks and many dependencies (via Maven or npm), making them harder to secure.

Minimalist languages like Lua are better for security because they keep codebases small, with fewer dependencies—offering fewer points for attackers to exploit and making code easier to audit and maintain.

Bottom line:
Less code and fewer dependencies mean a smaller, safer attack area.

By the way: Mirth Connect—a popular open-source HL7 engine—uses both Java and JavaScript, making it very difficult to secure,