There's no shortcut to real AppSec

Why lasting AppSec requires more than tools, checklists, or shift-left slogans

At Glev, we’ve spoken with many organizations trying to improve software security—and struggling. One of the most common mistakes is attempting drastic change overnight: dropping a new tool, launching a big security initiative, expecting everyone to fall in line.

It rarely works. More often, it creates mistrust between security and engineering.

Another common trap: trying to shift left too early, before addressing the security debt already lurking in production. And while the long-term goal is to create fewer vulnerabilities over time, the reality is you can’t start there. You have to begin where the risk already lives: in the vulnerabilities that have built up in your existing systems.

Skipping this step weakens your credibility, your risk posture, and your ability to scale secure practices.

The truth is, there’s no magic formula.
Lasting AppSec isn’t about tools alone. It’s a process of building maturity, habits, and alignment across tech teams.

At Glev, we believe there are three key steps to get there.

Step 1: Address Your Security Debt

For any company that’s been building software for a while, the real risks often lie in legacy systems—not the code being written today.

Security debt is a form of technical debt. It accumulates when security is deprioritized in favor of speed. Left unchecked, it exposes your business to breaches, fines, service disruptions, and rising development costs.

But the damage isn’t just external. Security teams end up overloaded and reactive. Developers grow accustomed to unsafe environments. And in the background, attackers may already be present—gathering data or waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

Fixing this debt is essential—but it’s hard. Teams struggle with alert fatigue, unclear priorities, missing ownership, and skepticism from engineers who’ve been burned by noisy tools and poor context.

How Glev helps:

• Provides a holistic view of your real vulnerabilities across your systems

• Prioritizes what matters with smart triage based on context and exposure

• Helps you build realistic remediation plans tailored to your team’s habits and production pace

• Supports developers from detection to resolution, speeding up time-to-fix and earning trust

Step 2: Build a Continuous Security Practice

Once your foundation is under control, the next step is making security part of everyday development.

Too often, “shift left” means adding a scanner to your CI and calling it done. That leads to overloaded pipelines, developer fatigue, and very little change in outcomes.

Real continuous security is about context-aware detection, tight developer feedback loops, and reinforcing secure practices incrementally—not through pressure or panic, but through rhythm.

That’s what we’re building with Glev: an AI AppSec partner that integrates security into your dev flow in a way that’s meaningful, not overwhelming.

Step 3: Achieve Security by Design

The goal isn’t just to fix what’s broken—it’s to anticipate and prevent issues from the start.

Security by design means developers ask the right questions when architecting a system. Security concerns are addressed early. Guardrails are built-in, not bolted on. It’s a cultural shift that prioritizes secure defaults and intentional design.

But you can’t mandate your way there. You build toward it by aligning security and engineering, iterating together, and embedding security expertise where it’s most needed.

Developers Already Have Enough on Their Plate

Some say developers should “care more” about security. But the reality is more complex.

Security knowledge varies widely across teams. Developers already face mounting pressure—from delivery timelines to performance, bugs, compliance, and more. Adding security on top without context, support, or relevance only creates friction.

AppSec, meanwhile, evolves constantly. Even security professionals struggle to keep up.

This is why security teams must change the nature of the relationship. They need to be proactive, solution-oriented, and collaborative—bringing just-in-time guidance, not just policies.

That’s the mindset we’ve built into Glev.

No Shortcut—Just the Right Steps

You can’t skip your way to secure software. But you can make real progress—if you take the right steps:

1. Address your security debt

2. Build security into your development cycles

3. Evolve toward security by design

There’s no shortcut. But there’s a smarter path.

We’re building Glev to help you walk it—with speed, clarity, and trust.