Can we expect developers to be security experts?

Secure development is challenging and can be a significant drain on time and resources. Adding security responsibilities to developers’ workloads can overwhelm teams and raise security risks for organizations.

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The pressure is on

Development is moving faster than ever, with AI accelerating the pace to new heights. Developers want to focus on what they do best, building and shipping great products. But when security tasks are layered on top, it creates a difficult trade-off, often sacrificing security for speed.

We recently met an impressive Product Security team at a fast-growing fintech company. They had all the right processes and tools, yet a critical design vulnerability, a broken authentication, slipped into production. Why? Developers had pushed for a low-risk classification for the release. The fallout: an unplanned emergency patch and a month of lost development time.

This isn’t an isolated story. Many organizations report similar experiences: development teams often label risks as “medium” or “low,” only for critical vulnerabilities to sneak into production, triggering fire drills and costly late fixes.

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The data speaks for Itself

Accelerated development cycles - traditional automation and modern AI tools are speeding up development cycles. Great for innovation and velocity, but it also means that design risk increases if security guidance isn’t seamlessly integrated into the process

Growing complexity - with expanding tech stacks, developers need just-in-time guidance on integrating new technologies into their products and features.Code scanning alone can’t provide this support

Rising late remediations – despite the focus on secure development, the bug bounty and pen testing markets are expanding faster than ever, reflecting that vulnerabilities still slip through, demanding costly late fixes.

High developer turnover –  developers change roles frequently, often staying for less than two years. By the time they’re trained on secure practices, they may move on, leaving knowledge gaps and disrupting the organization’s security continuity

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Finding the real solution

Rather than expecting developers to shoulder security independently, organizations need to embed security directly into the development process - automated, integrated, and always present. This approach ensures developers receive consistent, reliable guidance without interrupting their workflow or slowing innovation.

Seamless integration of security into existing workflows allows developers to stay focused on what they do best, develop. With the right guidance, at the right time, they can make informed security decisions effortlessly.

At Prime, we make security guidance as seamless as your code deployments. Our integrated approach ensures your team has the support they need, when they need it, for secure, rapid development. Ready to streamline security without slowing your development team down? Reach out to see how we can help.