Complementary Use Cases

The most effective application security programs use SAST and DAST together, leveraging their complementary strengths. SAST catches vulnerabilities early when they're cheap to fix, while DAST validates that deployed applications remain secure. SAST provides complete code coverage, while DAST confirms exploitability. Together, they provide defense in depth that neither tool alone can achieve.

Consider a typical development workflow: Developers write code with IDE-integrated SAST providing immediate feedback. Code commits trigger pipeline SAST analysis, catching issues before merge. Nightly builds deploy to test environments where DAST runs comprehensive scans. Pre-release DAST scans validate that accumulated changes haven't introduced vulnerabilities. This layered approach maximizes security coverage while maintaining development velocity.

Correlation between SAST and DAST findings provides valuable insights. When both tools identify the same vulnerability, confidence in the finding increases dramatically. When findings differ, investigation often reveals important context about application behavior. SAST might identify potentially vulnerable code that DAST confirms is properly protected by framework controls. Alternatively, DAST might find runtime vulnerabilities in third-party components that SAST cannot analyze.