03Program
A managed application security program for engineering teams
From annual pen-test dependency to continuous assurance: threat modeling, pipeline security tooling, developer enablement and testing cadence designed as one system.
- Name
- Managed Application Security Program
- Line
- 03 · Software & Product Development
- Type
- Outcome program, combines several practices
01The problem
Point-in-time testing cannot keep pace with weekly releases.
Point-in-time testing cannot keep pace with weekly releases. Findings arrive months after the code shipped, tools generate noise nobody triages, and security reviews become the bottleneck engineers route around.
02Scope
What the application security program covers.
- Secure SDLC design and rollout
- Security tooling selection, integration and tuning
- Threat modeling for high-risk features
- Manual testing focused where automation is blind
- Security champions program
- Supply chain security: SBOMs, provenance, dependency governance
03Approach
How an application security program engagement runs.
Tooling is matched to your stack, commercial or open source. Manual testing depth comes from our [offensive security](/services/cybersecurity/penetration-testing) practice, and pipeline work from [DevSecOps](/services/software-development/devsecops).
Baseline the SDLC
Where vulnerabilities actually originate in your lifecycle (design, dependencies, code or configuration), measured, not assumed.
Instrument the pipeline
SAST, DAST, SCA and secrets detection integrated into pull requests and tuned until developers trust the signal.
Enable and measure
Threat modeling embedded in design, champions enabled in each team, and escape rate tracked as the metric that matters.
04Outcomes
What the application security program is built to achieve.
- SAST, DAST, SCA and secrets detection integrated and tuned until developers trust them
- Threat modeling embedded in design for high-risk features
- Manual testing focused where automation is blind: logic, auth, novel surface
- Escape rate and remediation time measured and reported per team
When this work fits
- SaaS and product companies releasing weekly whose only assurance is a yearly test
- Engineering organizations without a dedicated application security team
- Companies that must show customers continuous security testing, with evidence
- Teams where the same vulnerability classes return in every penetration test report
05Questions
Application security program: questions we are asked
An annual test describes one version of the application on one date. A program follows the software as it changes: threat modeling when features are designed, automated checks on every commit, and manual testing timed to significant releases. The penetration test becomes one input among several, and findings feed back into design guidance so the same defect class stops recurring.
Automated controls run continuously in the pipeline: static analysis, dependency and secrets scanning, and infrastructure-as-code checks. Work that needs human judgment runs on a cadence agreed at the start: threat modeling for new features, manual testing of high-risk changes, a periodic full penetration test and a regular review of open findings with engineering leads.
Testing is scoped to the change, not to the whole application each time. Each release is triaged by risk: a copy change needs nothing, a new payment flow or permission model gets design review and targeted manual testing. Security work is planned in the same backlog as feature work, so it is visible and scheduled instead of arriving as a late blocker.
We triage: confirm the finding, remove false positives, rate it in the context of your application and route it to the owning team with reproduction steps and a suggested fix. Your engineers fix it, with our support where wanted. Where capacity is short, our software development engineers can work alongside them. Closure is verified by retest.
It produces much of the evidence those audits ask for: a documented secure development process, records of security testing, vulnerability handling with dates and owners, and change control. The program is designed so that evidence is a by-product of the work. It supports an audit. It does not guarantee the outcome, which rests with your auditor or certification body.
Often alongside