How to Involve Developers in Security

Most product founders (or aspiring founders) think cybersecurity is something that can be added on as we go. In 2024, 68 % of breaches involved a non‑malicious human element, like misconfigurations or coding oversights. Security isn’t a checkbox at launch; it’s a mindset woven into every sprint, every pull request, every architectural decision. Here’s a playbook we, at GrayCyan, have developed: 1️⃣. Threat Model Upfront Before you write a single line of code, map out your attack surface. What data are you storing? Who could target it, and how? A lightweight threat model (even a few whiteboard sketches) helps you prioritize controls around your riskiest assets. 2️⃣. Secure Design Patterns Adopt proven patterns—like input validation, output encoding, and the principle of least privilege—right in your prototypes. Whether it’s microservices or monolithic apps, enforcing separation of concerns and privilege boundaries early means fewer surprises down the road. 3️⃣. Shift‑Left Testing Integrate static analysis (SAST), dependency scanning, and secret‑detection tools into your CI/CD pipeline. Automate these checks so that every pull request tells you if you’ve introduced a risky dependency or an insecure configuration—before it ever reaches production. 4️⃣. Continuous Code Reviews Encourage a culture of peer review focused on security. Build short checklists (e.g., avoid hard‑coded credentials, enforce secure defaults) and run them in review sessions. Rotate reviewers so everyone gets exposure to security pitfalls across the codebase. 5️⃣. Dynamic & Pen‑Test Cycles Complement static checks with dynamic application security testing (DAST) and periodic penetration tests. Even a quarterly or biannual pen‑test will surface issues you can’t catch with automated scans—like business‑logic flaws or subtle authentication gaps. 6️⃣. Educate & Empower Your Team Run regular “lunch‑and‑learn” workshops on topics like OWASP Top 10, secure cloud configurations, or incident response drills. When developers think like attackers, they write more resilient code—and spot risks early. 7️⃣. Plan for the Inevitable No system is 100 % immune. Build an incident response plan, practice it with tabletop exercises, and establish clear escalation paths. That way, when something does go wrong, you move from panic to precision—minimizing impact and restoring trust. At GrayCyan, we partner with founders (and upcoming founders that have amazing product ideas) to embed these practices as we build apps. If you’re ready to turn security from an afterthought into your competitive advantage, let’s connect. Drop a comment or send us a DM, and let’s bake trust into your next release. #DevSecOps #SecureByDesign #SecureDevelopment #DataProtection #TechStartups GrayCyan AI Consultants & Developers

🚀 Building a Robust DevSecOps Strategy in 2024: Where to Start? 🤔 Ever felt like your DevSecOps teams are speaking different languages? I’ve been there. When teams work in silos, communication breaks down, accountability slips, and risks increase. Here’s how you can diagnose and improve your DevSecOps strategy: 🚩 Signs Your DevSecOps Strategy Needs Help 🔄 Communication Silos: When teams are isolated, tasks often get duplicated or, worse, neglected. This results in wasted time and money and increases security risks. 🕵️ Time Wasted on Information Search: IT employees can waste up to 4.2 hours daily just searching for relevant information, highlighting a lack of effective knowledge sharing. ⚠️ Addressing Vulnerabilities Post-Deployment: Pushing security checks to the end of the development cycle leads to discovering significant vulnerabilities only after a product has been launched, putting your application and data at risk. 💡 Strategies to Strengthen Your DevSecOps Approach 🤝 Foster a Culture of Collaboration: Encourage open communication between development, security, and operations teams. Use regular meetings and shared platforms to ensure alignment and teamwork. 🔐 Embrace Continuous Security: Security isn’t a one-time task; it’s an ongoing process. Train developers in secure coding practices and ensure security teams understand development workflows to implement proactive security measures. ⚙️ Automate Security in the CI/CD Pipeline: Integrate security testing tools like SAST, DAST, and SCA into your CI/CD pipelines. Use SAST during the build phase and DAST and SCA for later-stage testing to catch issues early and often. 🛡️ Implement Threat Modeling: Use threat modeling frameworks like STRIDE or PASTA to identify and prioritize threats early in development. Develop targeted countermeasures before threats become vulnerabilities. 🏆 The Role of a Change Champion 🎯 Identify a Change Champion: Choose someone with a strong understanding of both development and security practices. Ensure they have excellent communication skills and a passion for improving security practices. 🧠 Empower Your Champion: Provide leadership, communication, and coaching resources and training. Help them create a community of champions to share knowledge and best practices across teams. In today’s digital landscape, DevSecOps is no longer optional—it’s essential. By diagnosing team challenges, fostering collaboration, and implementing these best practices, your organization can protect itself from vulnerabilities and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. #DevSecOps #CyberSecurity #DevOps #DigitalTransformation #Automation #Leadership #ContinuousSecurity #CI_CD #TeamCollaboration #ShiftLeft

In my 100+ buyer interviews I’ve had with cybersecurity practiomers, a recurring theme surfaces: Understanding their audience is just as important as it is for marketers. Consider the various security domains: many teams play a role in its success, each with its unique mindset. For instance, developers and their role in security. A developer is not a regular techie. In fact, they are not a techie at all. A developer is a creative person. And if you put any constraints on a creative person, you will kill their creativity. Stay with me here. Security professionals may not be able to wholly understand them but they have to try to listen and hear them in order to simplify their lives, foster collaboration, enable them to innovate securely and drive business success. If not, many developers will continue to run blindly into the cloud, building new infrastructure and applications without considering the bigger picture. Risky, eh? Brutally honest insights from TJ (Tsion) Gonen of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd and Dmitriy Sokolovskiy, CISSP, QTE. (Seriously two of my favorite people. 🙌) So, how security pros can make developers lives easier: 1. Simplify and standardize cloud processes to reduce complexity and uncertainty. 2. Focus on making it easier for developers to do the right thing rather than adding roadblocks. 3. Use the language and tools that developers are familiar with to integrate security into their workflow seamlessly. 4. Automate security processes where possible to streamline development and reduce manual errors. 5. Provide ongoing education and training for developers to help them understand the importance of security and how to implement it effectively. 6. Foster a culture of collaboration and communication between security professionals and developers to ensure that security is an integral part of the development process. 🔥 Such critical insight unraveled in less than 56 minutes. Listen to the full episode in the comments below ↓ #informationsecurity #customerresearch #audience1st

This one security question exposes whether your senior dev candidate is a hidden gem or just resume padding. Building a culture of security within our development team has been one of the toughest challenges I've faced as a technical leader. It's not that our developers intentionally want to build insecure features - they just naturally prioritize user experience and flexibility over security. We implemented a "security champions" program that fundamentally transformed our approach. These champions became the bridge between development and security, helping everyone understand that security isn't just a checkbox - it's a competitive advantage that builds a culture of security. Now, when interviewing senior developers, I always ask this one question that reveals everything: "If you were designated as a 'security champion' for your development team, what would be your first three initiatives?" The responses expose a candidate's true mindset faster than any technical quiz. The resume-padders will mumble generic answers about "security by design" or "I did a security training program." But the hidden gems? They light up and talk about: 🚀 Building developer buy-in by connecting security to business outcomes (faster growth, bigger customers, more new features) 💡 Integrating automated security testing directly into existing workflows (not as an afterthought) 🔥 Creating systems where making secure choices becomes the path of least resistance 📌 Establishing processes that turn one-time actions into repeatable behaviors and habits - because security needs to be sustainable, not just a short-term initiative You'll be amazed at how this question reveals candidates' leadership potential beyond their technical skills. The strongest developers focus on making security part of every conversation from design through deployment. Try this in your next interview. I guarantee you'll see candidates in a completely different light. 💬 What's your go-to question for uncovering a developer's true capabilities beyond the resume? Share below! #TechHiring #DevSecOps #TechInterviews #SeniorDeveloper #SaaS #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment #DevOps #CTO #CIOlife #EnterpriseReady #7minuteAppSec