Start with SAST or Start with DAST?

Which is more the impactful application security testing solution an emerging software company should start with, SAST or DAST? What are the pros and cons of each and considerations such as your company’s risk tolerance or compliance requirements such as HIPAA or PCI? What comes next after SAST and DAST?

Let's break down the optimal application security testing strategy for an emerging software company, considering risk tolerance, compliance, and long-term growth.

SAST vs. DAST: How do you start?

For an emerging company, DAST is often the more immediately impactful starting point.

DAST Focuses on Runtime Vulnerabilities because hackers primarily target running applications. DAST simulates real-world attacks, revealing vulnerabilities exploitable in a live environment. This directly addresses the biggest threat. It doesn't require access to source code, making it easier to implement and test deployed applications, even if they involve third-party components.

DAST is easy to implement, and provides quick results. DAST tools are generally easier to set up and run, especially for companies without mature development processes. Ease of use for software developers is essential; they often aren’t trained as security experts. Developers get immediate feedback on critical vulnerabilities present in the deployed application, allowing for rapid remediation.

Pros and Cons

SAST Pros:

• Identifies vulnerabilities early in the SDLC.
• Provides detailed information about the location and nature of vulnerabilities in the source code.
• Helps developers learn secure coding practices.

SAST Cons:

• Can produce a high number of false positives.
• Requires access to source code.
• May miss runtime vulnerabilities.
• Can slow down the development process.

DAST Pros:

• Finds runtime vulnerabilities that SAST may miss.
• Simulates real-world attacks.
• Doesn't require access to source code.
• Generally easier to implement.

DAST Cons:

• Can only find vulnerabilities in running applications.
• May miss vulnerabilities in code paths not exercised during testing.
• Can be slower than SAST.

Risk Tolerance and Compliance

If the company is highly risk-averse, SAST's early detection capabilities become more valuable. However, the immediate impact of DAST on runtime security is hard to ignore. Emerging companies often need to release code quickly, and DAST can find critical issues in that code, just before or after release.

Compliance (HIPAA, PCI DSS, many others):

• Both HIPAA and PCI DSS require robust security testing. DAST is crucial for demonstrating that the application is secure in its deployed state, which is a key requirement for these regulations.
• PCI DSS particularly calls for dynamic scanning.
• If the company handles sensitive data, like patient health information (HIPAA) or credit card data (PCI DSS), DAST is essential for identifying vulnerabilities that could lead to data breaches.

Runtime resilience is critical to securing the enterprise. Hackers exploit vulnerabilities in running applications. They don't usually have access to the source code to identify vulnerable attack surfaces. However, they can cause a lot of misery launching dynamic attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and buffer overflows which target the application's runtime environment.

Building software resilient to these attacks requires testing in a dynamic environment, which is precisely what DAST provides.

After SAST and DAST, then what??

It’s time to mature your company’s AST Program with SCA and IAST.?

Software Composition Analysis identifies vulnerabilities in open-source libraries and components used in the application. It complements DAST and SAST by addressing a significant source of vulnerabilities: third-party code. SCA augments earlier investments by expanding the coverage of the security testing program.?

Emerging companies often leverage open source code, making SCA very important. This is significant because just 30-35% of an application is custom written by your engineers. 65-70% of code used was written by a third party outside your company.?

Interactive Application Security Testing combines the strengths of SAST and DAST. It instruments the application at runtime and analyzes code execution to identify vulnerabilities. It provides more accurate and detailed results than either SAST or DAST alone.?

IAST augments earlier investments by increasing the accuracy and efficiency of vulnerability detection. It improves report accuracy and fidelity giving developers higher confidence as they remediate vulnerabilities with the greatest risk impacts.

Platform for Greater Efficiency

Eventually, your AST program will reach a level of maturity that you need to consolidate testing procedures and tools to a centralized platform that supports all of your company’s AST needs. Point tools excel at something specific, often overlapping your other tools. They become expensive extra licenses with limited value, yet still require engineers to review each tool’s reports and sort out unique v/s duplicate vulnerabilities, and eliminate false positives before they waste developers’ valuable time.

An AST platform provides a centralized and integrated approach to application security testing.

Increase your team’s efficiency by streamlining the testing process and reduce the time and effort required to identify and remediate vulnerabilities.

Improve vulnerability coverage and gain a comprehensive view of application security risks, covering all stages of the SDLC.

Consistent security testing across all software development teams ensures that everyone follows consistent security testing practices.

Centralized reporting and management provides enterprise visibility for managing security testing results and tracking remediation efforts.

Reduce your costs by consolidating multiple security testing tools, and reduce the need for manual testing. Automate testing throughout the SDLC.

Final Thoughts

An emerging software company should prioritize DAST to address immediate runtime vulnerabilities. As the company matures, it should expand its AST program to include SAST, SCA, and IAST. Embracing an AST platform approach provides the greatest efficiencies, vulnerability coverage, and consistency of security testing across all software development teams.