The gold standard for creating an application security (AppSec) program is – and always will be – to follow best practices. By following preestablished and proven methods, you can ensure that you are maximizing the benefits of your AppSec program. Unfortunately, time, budget, culture, expertise, and executive buy-in often restrict organizations from following best practices. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t create an impactful AppSec program.

In today’s world, speed wins. Just take Amazon for example. You can place an order with the click of a button and have it delivered to your door in under twenty-four hours. Retailers that can’t compete with Amazon’s speed are falling behind. The same level of speed and efficiency is expected with technology. Companies are in a race to deliver new and innovative technology first. But aside from speed, companies are also concerned about the security of their software.

Sometimes it’s hard to convince people that security needs to be part of every software development process. “We passed all our tests,” they might tell you. “Isn’t that good enough?” The problem is that functional testing usually focuses on the happy path—a place where users act rationally, systems behave well, and nobody is attacking your application.

Over the past year, the retail and hospitality industries have been forced to adapt to the “new normal.” Since lockdowns and health concerns have prevented or dissuaded in-person shopping or dining, the new normal has been e-commerce. Smaller businesses not equipped for the increase in e-commerce have had to undergo rapid digital transformation in order to stay afloat. But, unfortunately, e-commerce was not the only thing to increase in 2020.

Software is becoming an increasingly pivotal part of modern business and society. In turn, consumers have come to expect instant gratification. This has driven businesses to concentrate on innovation and speed to market. Businesses that can’t keep up with the hyper-competitive market of speed-to-value are falling behind.

If you’re looking to start or optimize an AppSec program in 2021, the Forrester WaveTM report is a good place to begin your research. The report not only details essential elements of AppSec solutions, but also ranks 12 static application security testing (SAST) vendors based on their current offering, strategy, and market presence. Development speeds and methods are changing and the requirements for a SAST solution are evolving as well.

TrustRadius recently awarded Veracode with a 2021 Best Application Security Feature Set Award and Best Application Security Customer Support Award. These honors are given to companies that have gone above and beyond to delight their users. To win the Best Feature Set Award, each nominated organization had to receive 10 TrustRadius reviews in the past year that featured specific mention of their product’s feature set.

Over the past several years, there have been many changes to software development and software security, including new and enhanced application security (AppSec) scans and architectural shifts like serverless functions and microservices. But despite these advancements, our recent State of Software Security (SOSS) report found that 76 percent of applications have security flaws.

The total cost of poor software quality in the U.S. is estimated at $2.08 trillion. Learn what contributes to the cost and how security can help minimize errors. Do it right the first time. That long-standing cliché is based on the premise that it almost always costs more to fix something built poorly than it does to build it correctly.