Building Security In: The Journey to “Secure by Design” in a Dynamic AppSec World

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In this OX Security webinar, Field CTO Boaz Barzel is joined by Curtis Koenig (Head of Application Security at Gen Digital), Lakshmi Narasimhan (CISO at Intellect Design Arena), and Vikram Barate (VP of Engineering at GS Lab | GAVS) to challenge the status quo around “secure by design.” The panel digs into the culture and accountability behind the developer-versus-security blame game, what shift-left really requires, and how to make security a functional requirement measured by shared metrics. They explore threat modeling as the heart of secure by design, prioritizing vulnerabilities by context, the right balance of tooling and training, and how compliance and AI are reshaping the work, closing with practical advice for building security in.

Key Takeaways

  • Security is a shared responsibility, not a blame game. Developers own the code they write; security owns informing them how that code performs, early, clearly, and as a partner.
  • Shift-left only works if it’s early and well-supported. Give developers high-quality information in the IDE, at check-in, and at build, with agreed quality bars, not just a mantra dumped on them.
  • Make security a functional requirement with shared metrics. Treating it as a non-functional add-on guarantees it gets deprioritized; shared KPIs and the language of quality align development, security, and the business.
  • Threat modeling is the heart of secure by design, so shift it left too. Map attack surfaces and blind spots early, plan from the blueprint, and train developers to think in threat models rather than leaving it to experts.
  • Treat security as one connected system, not silos. Threat models, SAST, DAST, SCA, red teams, automated tests, and bug bounty should feed each other, and vulnerabilities should be prioritized by real context.
  • Use compliance and AI wisely. Compliance is a baseline implemented in spirit, not a tick-box; AI boosts attackers and defenders alike, so adopt it with guardrails and a human (or another AI) in the loop.

Video Transcript

Speakers

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Boaz Barzel

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Field CTO, OX Security (host/moderator)

Field CTO at OX Security and the session’s moderator.

Curtis Koenig

Curtis Koenig

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Head of Application Security, Gen Digital

Head of application security at Gen Digital (Norton, LifeLock, Avast, AVG, CCleaner), with over 20 years in security across high-tech, banking, and open source.

Lakshmi Narasimhan

Lakshmi Narasimhan

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CISO, Intellect Design Arena

VP and CISO at Intellect Design Arena, a global fintech product company, with more than two decades in information security.

Vikram Barate

Vikram Barate

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VP of Engineering, GS Lab | GAVS

VP of engineering at GS Lab | GAVS, with a product-engineering background spanning telecom, networking, and network security.

FAQ

It’s shared. Developers bear responsibility for the code they write, but their success depends on organizational culture, awareness, the right timelines, and a support system such as a security champion or go-to security partner.

Not just doing security, but doing it early. Give developers the best information you can as early as you can, in the IDE, at check-in, and at build, with agreed quality bars, and act as a partner so they can make informed trade-offs rather than having accountability dumped on them.

Stop treating security as a non-functional add-on and make it a functional requirement, then align everyone with shared metrics and KPIs. Framing issues in the language of quality (performance, reliability, user-data risk) earns a better foothold with teams.

Use threat models early to derive attack surfaces and uncover blind spots, and plan from the blueprint stage, sometimes well before development starts. Crucially, train developers to think in threat models so it’s ingrained across the engineering value chain, not siloed with experts.

By context. Not every zero-day or advisory is a panic; associate each vulnerability with your system, run impact analysis, and use a gated, coordinated process with the right stakeholders. Strong threat modeling acts as a funnel, so fewer, higher-quality issues reach your tools.

Training first, so developers understand the pipeline and can reason about security. Then SAST, DAST, and SCA for data, tuned so they inform rather than overwhelm, and a feedback loop to learn from what you’ve shipped. Lean on advancing tools like copilots, including custom plugins, but keep maturity realistic.

Compliance is a useful baseline and a way to compare organizations, valuable when implemented in spirit rather than as a tick-box, but not something to rely on alone. AI helps both attackers and defenders, so adopt it with caution, guardrails, and ideally locally hosted models for sensitive data.