security-scanning
Security Scanning
Three different scan types answer three different questions, and using the wrong one at the wrong stage either misses real issues or floods the team with noise. SAST looks at source code for known-bad patterns before anything runs. Dependency scanning checks what you pulled in against known vulnerability databases. DAST attacks a running instance the way an external attacker would. None of them replaces the others, and none of them should gate a merge on day one with default settings.
The recurring failure isn't picking the wrong tool, it's turning every scanner on with default sensitivity and mandatory blocking before anyone has tuned it — which trains developers to route around the gate instead of trusting it.
A scanner that blocks merges before it's tuned teaches the team to bypass it, not to fix findings.