What Building a SAST Tool Taught Me About AppSec That 13 Years of Software Engineering Didn't

Short summary

A senior engineer building a SAST security scanner discovered that AppSec requires mastering vulnerability mechanics—not just secure coding patterns—and developing adversarial thinking. Understanding how attacks work, not just defenses, is essential; SAST tools are signal generators requiring expert analysis, not compliance gates. The key insight: shift from 'does this code work?' to 'how could this code be exploited?'

• •Adversarial thinking—imagining attacks, not just defenses—is the critical mindset shift for transitioning into AppSec
• •OWASP Top 10 represents divergences between developer and attacker mental models of code behavior
• •SAST tools are signals, not oracles; their value depends on quality analysis applied to findings, not volume of alerts

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.