Automated Security Scanning
Automated Security Scanning is a process that uses specialized software tools to automatically detect vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and security weaknesses in applications, infrastructure, or code without manual intervention. It typically involves scanning for issues like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), insecure dependencies, and exposed secrets across various stages of the development lifecycle. These tools help identify security risks early, enabling teams to remediate them before deployment.
Developers should use automated security scanning to integrate security into their DevOps workflows (DevSecOps), ensuring continuous security assessment throughout development and deployment. 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).