Automated Security Scanning vs Crowdsourced Security Testing

Developers should use automated security scanning to integrate security into their DevOps workflows (DevSecOps), ensuring continuous security assessment throughout development and deployment meets developers should learn and use crowdsourced security testing to enhance the security posture of their products by tapping into a wide range of expertise and perspectives, which can uncover vulnerabilities that automated tools or limited internal teams might miss. Here's our take.

Automated Security Scanning

Nice Pick

Developers should use automated security scanning to integrate security into their DevOps workflows (DevSecOps), ensuring continuous security assessment throughout development and deployment

Pros

• It is critical for compliance with standards like OWASP Top 10, PCI-DSS, or GDPR, and for preventing costly breaches in production environments by catching vulnerabilities in code, containers, APIs, or infrastructure as code (IaC)
• Related to: static-application-security-testing, dynamic-application-security-testing

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Crowdsourced Security Testing

Developers should learn and use crowdsourced security testing to enhance the security posture of their products by tapping into a wide range of expertise and perspectives, which can uncover vulnerabilities that automated tools or limited internal teams might miss

Pros

• It's particularly valuable for organizations with public-facing digital assets, such as web applications, mobile apps, or APIs, as it offers real-world testing in a cost-effective manner, often complementing practices like penetration testing and secure coding
• Related to: penetration-testing, vulnerability-assessment

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Automated Security Scanning is a tool while Crowdsourced Security Testing is a methodology. We picked Automated Security Scanning based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Automated Security Scanning wins

Based on overall popularity. Automated Security Scanning is more widely used, but Crowdsourced Security Testing excels in its own space.