As AI-assisted development and automation accelerate software delivery, organizations need to rethink traditional secure software development lifecycle practices and build security capabilities into every stage of the process.

Applications are becoming an increasingly important target for threat actors, while many organizations continue to rely on traditional secure software development lifecycles (SSDLCs) that can limit their ability to respond to evolving risks.

Recent research from Info-Tech Research Group points to the need for organizations to evolve the traditional SSDLC into a more intelligent, capabilities-driven framework. The approach embeds security capabilities throughout the software delivery lifecycle while helping organizations align security investments with business priorities and risk.

Info-Tech's newly released blueprint, Develop a Strategic Plan for Intelligent Application Security, provides step-by-step guidance and tools to help IT and security leaders assess their current maturity, prioritize initiatives, and establish a strategic roadmap for intelligent application security practices.

Moving Security From Roadblock to Enabler

An intelligent SSDLC can help shift application security from a potential roadblock to an enabler of faster and more resilient software delivery, according to Info-Tech's findings.

The need for this evolution is becoming more pronounced as AI-assisted development and automation increase the speed and scale of software delivery. Security practices and capabilities must evolve at the same pace.

Info-Tech recommends combining intelligent tooling and automation with human expertise while strengthening collaboration among security, development, and operations teams. Organizations should also prioritize improvements according to business value and risk rather than treating every security capability or investment equally.

"Building a scalable and adaptive application security program through an intelligent approach positions security as a business enabler," says Ahmad Jowhar, Senior Research Analyst at Info-Tech Research Group.

Jowhar continues, "It strengthens foundational practices, increases development velocity, and ensures resilience across modern development pipelines, empowering organizations to deliver securely at scale."

Key Challenges in Modern Application Security

Despite significant investments in application security, many organizations continue to face challenges in modernizing their practices. Info-Tech's research identifies several key obstacles:

• Fragmented coordination between security, development, and operations teams.
• Limited visibility into maturity and capability gaps across the software lifecycle.
• Tool adoption without sufficient integration or governance, which can create additional complexity rather than closing security gaps.
• A lack of risk-based prioritization, making it difficult to focus investments on the business opportunities and security threats that matter most.

Addressing these challenges requires more than adding new security tools. Organizations also need a framework for determining which capabilities are most important, how mature those capabilities are, and where additional investment can deliver the greatest value.

A Three-Phase Approach to Intelligent SSDLC Modernization

Info-Tech's blueprint outlines a three-phase framework for developing an intelligent application security strategy.

Phase 1: Prioritize iSSDLC Capabilities

IT, security, application, and business stakeholders identify business opportunities and security threats, establish metrics, and define governance roles and responsibilities. The objective is to determine which application security capabilities are most important to the organization.

Phase 2: Assess Capability Maturity

Security, IT risk, privacy, compliance, and business stakeholders assess the organization's current maturity across application security capabilities. They then establish appropriate target states based on risk, business priorities, organizational readiness, and automation potential.

Phase 3: Develop a Strategic Plan

Security and application leaders identify initiatives to close capability gaps, evaluate costs and benefits, prioritize investments, and develop a roadmap and strategy deck. These materials can then be used to communicate the plan and build stakeholder support.

Building an Adaptive Application Security Program

The blueprint includes a comprehensive framework, a Capabilities Assessment Tool, and a customizable Strategic Plan Template. Together, these resources are intended to help organizations build a scalable and adaptive application security program aligned with organizational objectives.

As software development continues to accelerate through AI and automation, the traditional approach of treating security as a series of checkpoints may become increasingly difficult to sustain. Embedding security capabilities throughout software delivery—while combining automation with human expertise and risk-based decision-making—provides organizations with a way to strengthen resilience without slowing the pace of innovation.

For organizations navigating increasingly complex development environments, the shift toward an intelligent SSDLC represents an opportunity to make application security a more integrated part of software delivery and a stronger contributor to business outcomes.

Source: Info-Tech Research Group

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