Implementing DevSecOps Security Scanning

When to Use

• Setting up automated security scanning in a new or existing CI/CD pipeline
• Shifting security left by catching vulnerabilities before code reaches production
• Meeting compliance requirements (SOC 2, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001) that mandate automated security testing
• Integrating SAST, DAST, and SCA together to achieve comprehensive application security coverage
• Establishing security gates that block deployments containing critical or high-severity vulnerabilities

Do not use as a replacement for manual penetration testing. Automated scanning catches common vulnerability patterns but cannot replace human-driven security assessments for business logic flaws and complex attack chains.

Prerequisites

• CI/CD platform: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps
• Container runtime (Docker) for running scanning tools
• A staging environment URL for DAST scanning (DAST cannot test static code)
• Repository access with permissions to modify CI/CD workflow files
• Tool-specific requirements: