What Are SAST, DAST, and SCA?

NOTE:: CVE, short for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures, is a public catalog of known cybersecurity vulnerabilities and exposures.

Advantages of SAST:  Removes the need for manual checks, checking hundreds and thousands of lines of application source code on the flyShift left – identify defects in the codebase early in the SDLC and reduce fixing cost

Disadvantage of SAST:  Requires access to source code and underlying framework, not suitable for COTS customization or outsourced developmentUnable to identify run time and environment-related issues – hard to determine the actual risks of security flaws and meaningful remediation

SAST – Think: “White-box” code review

• Goal: Identify issues like SQL Injection, XSS (Cross-site scripting), insecure crypto, hardcoded secrets

• When: Early (during coding/commit/build)

• Scope: Custom application code

• Pros: Fast feedback, shift-left, no need to run app

• Cons: False positives, no runtime context

• Tools: SonarQube

DAST – Think: “Black-box” penetration testing

• Goal: Find exploitable vulnerabilities in the deployed app

• When: After deployment to test/staging

• Scope: HTTP endpoints, UI interactions

• Pros: Real-world vulnerability detection

• Cons: No code visibility, can miss logic flaws, slow

• Tools: OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite (Pro) etc.

SCA – Think: “Dependency health checker”

• Goal: Find CVEs in your third-party packages (NPM, Maven, pip, etc.)

• When: During build (or even pre-commit)

• Scope: Dependency manifests like package.json, pom.xml, requirements.txt

• Pros: Fast, covers (Open Source Softwares) OSS risks, license checking

• Cons: May miss deeply nested/transitive issues

Security Development Life Cycle (SecSDLC or SDL):
An extension of SDLC that integrates security practices throughout every phase to build software that is secure by design, minimizing vulnerabilities and risks.

Phases Comparison Table

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How to Embed SAST, SCA, and DAST into CI/CD

A[Code Commit] --> B[SAST & SCA Scans ]
B --> C[Build & Run Unit Tests]

C --> D[Deploy to Staging]

D --> E[DAST Scan (Dynamic Application Testing)]

E --> F[Security Gate Check (Policies, CVE Threshold, License Check)]

F --> G[Deploy to Production]

DevSecOps Pipeline Security Steps

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Some Other Tools:

Snyk

• NOT a pure SAST or DAST tool, but a Developer-first Security Platform.

• At its core, Snyk is an SCA tool, but it has expanded into a DevSecOps platform by offering::

  • SCA (Software Composition Analysis) → scans open-source dependencies (like in package.json, pom.xml, etc.)

  • Container security (Docker image scanning)

  • IaC ( Infrastructure as Code ) scanning (Terraform, Kubernetes YAMLs)

  • Partial SAST Capabilities (with Snyk Code)

Zscaler – Cloud Security Platform (Zero Trust)

• A cloud-based secure gateway that protects users and workloads on the internet and internal apps.

• When it's used:
  In network-level security, protecting users, endpoints, and cloud environments.

  What it does:

  • Enforces Zero Trust Access (ZTNA)

  • Protects users from malware, phishing, malicious content

  • Secures outbound internet access (SWG, Cloud Firewall)

  • DLP (Data Loss Prevention)

Benefits:

• Prevents data breaches and malware

• Secures remote access without a VPN

• Ensures least privilege access

Okta – Identity & Access Management (IAM)

• A secure identity provider that manages authentication and authorization across apps and APIs.

• When it's used:
  Across the entire SDLC — both during development (auth integration) and production (access enforcement).

• What it offers:

  • OAuth2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC)

  • SSO (Single Sign-On)

  • MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)

  • RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

Benefits:

• Prevents account takeovers

• Enforces secure login policies