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Last updated: April 29, 2026
What each scanner class detects, tool selection for 2026, CI integration patterns, false-positive tuning, triage workflow.
SAST, DAST, and SCA are the three scanner classes that anchor a DevSecOps pipeline. This module covers what each actually detects, how to choose tools, and how to wire them into CI without turning your build times into a latency incident.
Clear definitions
- SAST (Static Application Security Testing): analyzes source code or compiled bytecode without running it. Detects code-level patterns — SQL injection via unsanitized input, hardcoded crypto keys, unsafe deserialization. Strengths: broad coverage, language-aware. Weaknesses: false positives, limited data-flow reach for dynamic languages
- DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing): interacts with the running application via HTTP, attempts attacks, observes responses. Detects runtime behaviour — reflected XSS that actually fires, SQL errors surfaced by a specific payload, weak auth flows. Strengths: tests real runtime behaviour. Weaknesses: needs staging deployment; coverage depends on what the scanner can reach
- SCA (Software Composition Analysis): inventories the libraries your code depends on; compares against vulnerability databases. Detects “your code uses log4j 2.14.0 which has CVE-2021-44228.” Strengths: fast, deterministic. Weaknesses: only as good as the database; doesn’t know whether the vulnerable function is actually reached from your code
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