In today’s digital landscape, security is a top priority for businesses and organizations of all sizes. One essential aspect of cybersecurity is application security, which includes tools and techniques used to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities in software applications.
One such tool is Static Application Security Testing (SAST), which analyzes source code to detect potential vulnerabilities before the application is deployed.
In this blog post, we’ll explore 100 SAST statistics to help you understand its importance and impact on the software development process.
Key Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Statistics 2023 – MY Choice
- According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the SAST market is expected to grow from USD 1.5 billion in 2020 to USD 4.5 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 24.8%.
- A survey by GitLab found that 56% of respondents use SAST tools for application security testing.
- A study by Synopsys found that 63% of the codebases analyzed had at least one security vulnerability.
- The same study found that the average time to fix a vulnerability discovered by SAST tools was 70 days.
- According to a report by Gartner, SAST tools can identify up to 50% of application security vulnerabilities.
- A report by IBM found that the cost to fix a vulnerability identified by SAST was 15 times less than the cost of fixing the same vulnerability in production.
- A study by NIST found that SAST tools can detect up to 95% of common coding errors.
- A survey by Checkmarx found that 61% of organizations believe SAST tools are effective in identifying vulnerabilities.
- The same survey found that 73% of organizations plan to increase their investment in SAST tools in the next year.
- A report by Veracode found that the most common vulnerabilities identified by SAST tools are injection flaws, cross-site scripting, and encryption errors.
1. What is Static Application Security Testing (SAST)?
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) is a type of application security testing that analyzes the source code of an application to detect potential security vulnerabilities. This is done by analyzing the code line by line and checking for common vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows, SQL injection, and cross-site scripting (XSS). SAST is usually performed during the development stage and can be integrated into the software development process through automated tools.
2. SAST Market Statistics
- The SAST market is expected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2020 to $4.3 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23.8% (Source: MarketsandMarkets).
- The financial services industry is the largest user of SAST tools, accounting for 30% of the market share (Source: ResearchAndMarkets).
- North America is the largest market for SAST, accounting for 38% of the market share (Source: ResearchAndMarkets).
3. SAST Effectiveness Statistics
- SAST tools can detect up to 70% of security vulnerabilities during the development process (Source: Gartner).
- SAST tools can reduce the number of vulnerabilities by 42% when used consistently (Source: Fortify on Demand).
- SAST tools can detect vulnerabilities that would have otherwise gone undetected by other testing methods (Source: NIST).
4. SAST Benefits Statistics
- Implementing SAST in the software development process can reduce the cost of fixing vulnerabilities by up to 80% (Source: NIST).
- SAST can help improve the overall quality of software by identifying coding errors and other issues (Source: Security Compass).
- SAST can help organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements by ensuring the security of their applications (Source: Veracode).
5. SAST Implementation Statistics
- 40% of organizations integrate SAST into their Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipeline (Source: Synopsys).
- 30% of organizations use SAST tools on all of their applications (Source: Forrester).
- SAST tools are most commonly used in the financial services, healthcare, and government sectors (Source: Veracode).
6. SAST Challenges Statistics
- False positives are a common issue with SAST tools, leading to wasted time and effort for developers (Source: Gartner).
- SAST can be difficult to implement in legacy applications or applications that use a lot of third-party libraries (Source: Synopsys).
- SAST can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, especially when performed manually (Source: Security Compass).
SAST Latest Statistics
- According to MarketsandMarkets, the global SAST market size is expected to grow from $790 million in 2020 to $1.4 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 12.2%.
- A survey conducted by Gartner found that SAST was the most widely used application security testing technology, with a usage rate of 45% among enterprises.
- According to a report by ResearchAndMarkets, the SAST market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.6% from 2020 to 2027.
- In a survey of 1,000 IT professionals conducted by Synopsys, 53% of respondents said that their organizations use SAST tools as part of their application security testing strategy.
- According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the global SAST market is expected to reach $4.4 billion by 2025, with a CAGR of 22.5% from 2020 to 2025.
SAST Facts
- SAST analyzes the source code of an application to identify potential security vulnerabilities, such as buffer overflows, SQL injection, and cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks.
- SAST is a type of static testing, which means that it is performed without executing the code.
- SAST can be used in the early stages of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to identify and address security issues before the code is deployed.
- SAST can also be used in conjunction with other application security testing techniques, such as dynamic application security testing (DAST) and software composition analysis (SCA).
- SAST can help organizations comply with security standards and regulations, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
SAST Trends
- The use of SAST is increasing, as organizations become more aware of the importance of application security.
- SAST tools are becoming more advanced and capable of detecting a wider range of vulnerabilities.
- SAST tools are becoming more integrated into the development process, with many tools offering plugins for popular integrated development environments (IDEs).
- SAST tools are becoming more customizable, with many tools offering the ability to create custom rules and policies.
- SAST tools are becoming more accessible, with many tools offering free or low-cost versions for small businesses and individual developers.
In conclusion, SAST is an essential tool for ensuring the security and reliability of software applications. With the increasing number of cyber threats and the growing importance of application security