Interactive Application Security Testing vs Dynamic Application Security Testing

Developers should use IAST during the development and testing phases of the software development lifecycle, particularly in CI/CD pipelines, to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities early meets developers should use dast during the testing phase of the software development lifecycle to identify runtime security vulnerabilities that static analysis might miss, such as injection flaws, broken authentication, and sensitive data exposure. Here's our take.

Interactive Application Security Testing

Nice Pick

Developers should use IAST during the development and testing phases of the software development lifecycle, particularly in CI/CD pipelines, to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities early

Pros

• It is especially valuable for web applications, APIs, and microservices where real-time analysis can catch issues that static tools might miss, such as runtime configuration problems or business logic flaws
• Related to: static-application-security-testing, dynamic-application-security-testing

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Dynamic Application Security Testing

Developers should use DAST during the testing phase of the software development lifecycle to identify runtime security vulnerabilities that static analysis might miss, such as injection flaws, broken authentication, and sensitive data exposure

Pros

• It is particularly valuable for web applications and APIs exposed to the internet, as it helps ensure compliance with security standards like OWASP Top 10 and PCI-DSS before deployment
• Related to: static-application-security-testing, penetration-testing

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

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

The Bottom Line

Interactive Application Security Testing wins

Based on overall popularity. Interactive Application Security Testing is more widely used, but Dynamic Application Security Testing excels in its own space.