6 Benefits of Running a SAST Tool in Your Business

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September 15, 2022 Business

It is difficult for businesses to create and maintain secure source code. The challenge is greatly affected by the possibility of risks that expose vulnerabilities, always posing the question of how to make sure the security concerns of the application are visible and how to deal with them. But with the help of the likes of a SAST Tool, risks can be mitigated early on in the process, which brings lots of benefits.

Providing answers in this way of looking at the issue will help ensure that each phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) uses the optimal collection of resources and proper utilization of tools. Here comes Static Application Security Testing (SAST), which takes a novel way of fixing app security vulnerabilities.

How Does SAST Come into Place?

The purpose of static analysis, also known as SAST, is to examine the source code of an application to identify security bugs that could be exploited in a potential attack on a business. A SAST Tool analyzes programs before they are compiled to detect vulnerabilities. This is referred to as white-box testing.

The Importance of SAST is On its Testing Work

SAST is one of the best options available regarding application security testing because of its adaptability across many SDLC phases and dynamic application security testing. When using SAST, it is possible to have it work in tandem with your current IDE. As a result, programmers can keep a close eye on their code at all times.

Due to the fact that SAST doesn’t necessitate an already-functioning application and can be performed without code execution, it occurs at an extremely early stage in the SDLC. This way, vulnerabilities can be found early in the development process and fixed without disrupting builds or introducing new vulnerabilities into the final product.

Here are the top six benefits of using SAST for security testing for your business.

1. SAST Validates Code Safety by Ensuring Coding Securely

Developing secure code is essential for every type of software, whether web-based, desktop, mobile, or embedded. Poorly written programs are straightforward prey for hackers to exploit for their ends. Denial of service, data loss, leaking of sensitive information, damage to end-user software and systems, and damage to your company’s brand reputation could all occur from such an attack.

How Can SAST Employ Security in the Coding Environment?

SAST helps make sure that the program is written safely and securely. It aids developers in ensuring that they comply with specific secure coding standards before releasing the underlying code into the production environment.

Software engineers and product owners frequently employ SAST technologies to enforce safe coding practices across all their teams and departments. This facilitates the speedy elimination of security flaws and code quality improvement.

2. Quick and Accurate Implementation of a Risk-Free Application

SAST tools can scan your code more quickly and comprehensively than human-performed secure code reviews. Millions of lines of code are monitored automatically by SAST tools to find and fix security flaws.

From the initial concept to final manufacturing, professionals on the security team guarantee that security is hardwired into the code itself. Because keeping up with the rate at which developers release updates and new goods is crucial, security measures must be more frequent and constant.

SAST Tools Provide Solution to the Problem

Every company has to use the various automated SAST solutions that have been developed over the years and which have consistently shown to be effective in terms of performance and efficiency. These automated tools must continuously monitor the code. You can simply track down security flaws, repair them, and gain valuable insights once you have the findings from automated testing. SAST tools aid in expediting the debugging process for programmers.

3. SAST Tool Moves Security to the Left Means Securing the Preparation Stages

Incorporating SAST early in the software development lifecycle aids in integrating security from the start. This lets them find flaws in the source code early on in the development process when they’re easier to fix. Putting security measures off to the end increases the risk of exploits being introduced into the live system.

Mitigation of Risks Before SDLC

When security is moved to the left, the risk and the expense of correcting vulnerabilities are minimized. SAST can analyze security flaws on both the client and server sides. Many vulnerabilities can be found in the source code or binaries that are tested during application security testing, and catching them early on helps simplify mitigating risks.

Suppose security flaws are found during real-time testing. In that case, they can be patched before moving forward in the SDLC, reducing the likelihood that such issues will become catastrophic for your end users and your business.

4. Research Says that More than One SAST Tool Increments Many of Its Benefits

The study on the adoption of static analysis for software security assessment explored SAST as part of an open-source e-government project’s security assessment process driven by humans.

The Implications Explore a New Approach to Security Testing

The research described how security professionals pick, evaluate, and combine SASTs into a fresh approach they implement for software security evaluation. A preliminary assessment of the method using semi-structured interviews indicates that, while specific tools perform better than others, more significant results can be achieved by combining many SAST tools.

This suggests that a consolidated effort consisting of multiple SAST solutions may prove helpful in the ongoing effort to evaluate the safety of open-source software.

5. Cost-Efficient Way of Identifying and Providing Solutions to Vulnerabilities

Using SAST tools, developers can get immediate feedback on their code and address any problems before sending it on to the next stage of the SDLC. This ensures that security concerns aren’t overlooked. That’s why it cuts the budget off right then because before passing to the next stage, vulnerabilities are already identified and solved. It prevents financial stress by solving all vulnerabilities in one go.

Return on Investment for SAST’s Early Detection and Correction of Security Issues

GrammaTech examined the positive outcome of using SAST in terms of the ROI that a business can get by integrating this solution into the process.

Because most vulnerabilities are created during development, early detection of security flaws and defects can significantly impact the budget. Savings in time, money, and resources are all benefits of using SAST. As they found in their investigation, lowering the average number of issues can save money.

The cost reductions for a single project are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, using conservative estimates.

6. Reports and Tracking of Risks is Easier with a SAST Tool

SAST tools allow developers to make the individualized reports they require, and those reports may be taken offline, exported, and monitored via dashboards. Developers need to keep track of all the security vulnerabilities revealed by the tool in an orderly way so that they can quickly fix these issues and deploy applications with minimal problems. There will be progress toward a safe SDLC as a result of this procedure.

A Visual Way to View the Problem Helps in the Solving Process

The problems discovered by SAST tools can also be visualized in a cause-and-effect diagram. These aid in figuring out the code. With the help of these instruments, you can quickly pinpoint the vulnerable code and see exactly where the vulnerabilities are. Without requiring in-depth knowledge of the security domain, tools can provide detailed guidance on how to fix issues and the best place in the code to fix them.

Conclusion: Strengthening Security Needs Action Through Implementing SAST

With your newfound knowledge of what SAST entails and how it may help your business, it is time to put it into action and improve your security. You may protect the company from potential security dangers and the ever-evolving security landscape by properly incorporating SAST throughout the continuous integration pipeline and SDLC.

It proves the adage, “action speaks louder than words,” or in this case, “action speaks louder with SAST.”