97 Things Every Application Security Professional Should Know

Chapter 23. Total AppSec

Hussain Syed

You may have heard the phrases “software is eating the world” or “every business is a software business.”

In other words, software plays a huge role in how we live today. You may also have seen many companies claim they are tech companies because their products or services are software! Today, we have technology at our disposal that we have never had before. Sadly, in the world of software development, we struggle to keep up with this relentless change, leading to confusion and failure when we adhere to old ways of thinking and doing things.

We still have “buckets” of specializations where development, ops, and security teams do not work with things beyond their subject matter. Concepts and methodologies such as Lean, Agile, and DevOps/DevSecOps are all well-intentioned movements, but they are often used superficially, digressing to become a veneer of commercial productization or tooling.

In Vikram Mansharamani’s famous HBR article, “All Hail the Generalist,”¹ and paraphrased in his book, Think for Yourself, he said, “The future might belong to those who are skilled not only at generating the proverbial dots of specialized information but also at connecting them. Those who see the big picture and tap into appropriate expertise when needed, would likely rule the future.”²

So, it is time to realize that it is up to us to remove the barriers ...