You have spent months perfecting your business app that could revolutionize your industry. Launch day arrives, user adoption exceeds expectations, and everything seems perfect. Then you wake up to see your company’s name trending, not for innovation, but for a catastrophic security breach that’s making headlines.

That nightmare became a reality for too many organizations across Europe. In 2022, Danish wind energy giant Vestas was forced to shut down its IT systems following a cyberattack that compromised its data. The incident not only had a financial cost but also exposed critical vulnerabilities in Europe’s renewable energy supply chain.

It wasn’t an isolated case. Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) faced the devastating task of rebuilding its entire IT network after a ransomware attack paralyzed healthcare services nationwide, with recovery costs estimated at over €600 million. Meanwhile, the attack on the UK’s International Distributions Services (Royal Mail) disrupted international deliveries for weeks.

Here’s what these breaches have in common: Each organization likely had security measures in place: firewalls, scanners, compliance checkboxes. Yet they still made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The truth? Traditional and semi-automated DevSecOps approaches that worked five years ago are now creating the very vulnerabilities they are meant to prevent. Your security tools might be generating thousands of alerts while missing the threats that matter. Your development teams might be choosing between shipping fast or shipping secure, not realizing they can achieve both.

As a tech-savvy business owner, these headlines are your wake-up call. According to a survey, the global DevSecOps market size is projected to grow from €3.4 billion in 2023 to €16.8 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 19.3%. And new technologies are always changing the trends.

That is why, in this blog, we are going to reveal fifteen transformative DevSecOps trends that you should know to stay off the breach list. Ready to turn security from your biggest liability into your competitive advantage? Let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways

• Continuous Integration: Security must shift from being a final checkpoint to an integrated part of the entire software development lifecycle.
• Proactive Management: Early vulnerability detection during development prevents costly code rewrites and emergency fixes.
• Regulatory Compliance: Regulations like GDPR and the NIS2 Directive demand consistent, auditable security configurations.
• Dynamic Assessment: Risk assessment must be a continuous and dynamic process, not a periodic manual exercise.
• Unified Workflows: Integration with existing development tools and workflows is essential for security adoption by teams.

1. AI-Driven Security Automation

Traditional manual security reviews are a bottleneck in modern development cycles. Security teams struggle to keep pace with rapid deployment schedules, meaning vulnerabilities are often discovered only after they have reached production. This reactive approach leaves organizations exposed.

AI-driven security automation transforms this paradigm. Machine learning algorithms continuously analyze code commits and runtime behaviors to identify potential security risks in real-time.

• 24/7 automated threat detection without human intervention.
• Faster time-to-market with security built into IDEs and CI/CD pipelines.
• Reduced operational costs through intelligent alert prioritization.
• Proactive vulnerability management before production deployment.

The business impact is twofold: development velocity increases, and security strengthens.

2. Autonomous Remediation

The traditional vulnerability response cycle creates dangerous exposure windows that can cost millions. When an issue is discovered, organizations face a cascade of delays due to manual processes that can take days or weeks.

Autonomous remediation systems eliminate these gaps. These intelligent platforms not only identify vulnerabilities but also automatically reconfigure security controls without human intervention. They are often integrated into Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) platforms for centralized visibility and orchestration.

• Mean Time to Remediation (MTTR) reduced from hours to seconds.
• Elimination of human errors in critical security responses.
• 24/7 protection without additional staffing costs.

The business value extends beyond risk reduction. Companies can maintain business continuity without the operational overhead of incident management.

3. Shift-Left Security

Vulnerability assessment is no longer a final checkpoint. The “Shift-Left” philosophy integrates security testing directly into the development workflow from the initial coding phase. Developers receive immediate feedback on security issues through IDE plugins, automated code analysis, and continuous scanning in CI/CD pipelines. European tech leaders like Spotify, known for their agile culture and thousands of daily deployments, apply similar principles to secure their massive global streaming infrastructure.

4. Zero Trust Architectures

Traditional perimeter-based security models operate on the flawed assumption that threats exist only outside the network. Once a user or device authenticates past the firewall, they gain broad access to internal systems.

A Zero Trust architecture eliminates implicit trust by requiring continuous verification for every user, device, and application attempting to access resources. Every access request is authenticated in real-time. German industrial giant Siemens has been a proponent of implementing Zero Trust principles to secure its vast network of Operational Technology (OT) and IT infrastructure.

Traditional Perimeter Security vs. Zero Trust Security

5. Cloud-Native Security

The migration to cloud infrastructure has made traditional security tools obsolete, as they cannot handle the dynamic nature of cloud resources. Cloud-native security solutions are architected specifically for these new paradigms.

These platforms, known as Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs), unify Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Cloud Workload Protection (CWP), and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) security into a single solution. The Deutsche Börse Group leveraged cloud-native security principles during its migration to Google Cloud to ensure the protection of financial market data.

6. DevSecOps as a Service (DaaS)

Building an in-house DevSecOps team requires a significant investment in talent and tools, which many European SMEs cannot afford.

DevSecOps as a Service (DaaS) removes these barriers by offering enterprise-grade security on a subscription basis. DaaS platforms provide security integration, automated code scanning, and threat detection, all through a managed cloud infrastructure. This allows your business to optimize operational costs and access specialized security knowledge without hiring a full team.

7. GitOps & Security as Code

Traditionally, security management relies on manual configuration changes and ad-hoc policy updates, leading to inconsistencies and a lack of visibility.

GitOps transforms this by treating security policies, configurations, and infrastructure as code, stored in version-controlled repositories like Git. This is crucial in Europe for demonstrating compliance with regulations like GDPR and the NIS2 Directive.

• Complete audit trails for all configuration changes.
• Instant rollback capabilities when issues are detected.
• Automated policy enforcement across all environments.
• Collaborative security reviews through standard Git workflows.

8. Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) automates infrastructure provisioning, but without controls, it can propagate misconfigurations at high speed. IaC Security integrates security policies directly into these automated workflows. Security rules and compliance requirements are codified and consistently applied to all deployed resources.

9. Cross-Team Security Collaboration

Traditional models create organizational silos: development teams see security as a roadblock, and security teams lack visibility into development priorities.

Cross-team security collaboration breaks down these silos with unified communication channels and collaborative incident response. Security becomes a shared responsibility, accelerating incident response, reducing downtime, and improving the delivery of new features.

10. Continuous Threat Modeling

Traditional threat modeling is a manual, one-off exercise, often performed too late. Continuous threat modeling transforms this reactive approach by integrating it directly into CI/CD pipelines.

Every code commit or infrastructure change triggers an automated threat assessment. This identifies potential attack vectors before they reach production. Major European banks like BNP Paribas have invested heavily in automated platforms to secure their applications and infrastructure at scale.

11. API Security

APIs are the backbone of modern digital ecosystems, connecting applications, services, and data. However, they often become the weakest link.

Automated API security integrates scanning tools directly into CI/CD pipelines to analyze API specifications for vulnerabilities before they reach production. This is especially critical in the context of European Open Banking, driven by the PSD2 directive.

12. Enhanced Open-Source Security

Modern applications heavily rely on open-source components, and each dependency is a potential entry point for vulnerabilities. The Log4j vulnerability, which affected thousands of European companies, demonstrated how devastating a software supply chain flaw can be.

Automated Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools continuously scan codebases, identifying vulnerable dependencies the moment they are introduced and providing remediation recommendations.

13. Chaos Engineering for Security Resilience

Traditional security testing rarely mimics real-world attack conditions. Chaos Engineering for security deliberately introduces controlled security failures into production-like environments to test system resilience.

These simulations include network breaches and system compromises that mirror actual attack patterns. European e-commerce companies like Zalando use these techniques to ensure their platforms can withstand unexpected failures and malicious attacks without impacting customers.

14. Edge and IoT Security Integration

The rise of edge computing and IoT devices creates distributed attack surfaces that traditional centralized security models cannot adequately protect. This is especially relevant for Europe’s industrial (Industry 4.0) and automotive (connected cars) sectors.

Edge and IoT security integration extends DevSecOps principles directly to devices, including automated policy enforcement, continuous monitoring, and secure over-the-air update mechanisms.

15. Secure Developer Experience (DevEx)

Traditional security tools often create friction and slow down developers. Secure Developer Experience (DevEx) prioritizes seamless security integration within existing workflows.

It provides contextual security guidance directly within IDEs and automates checks, eliminating the need for context-switching. The result is an enhanced security posture achieved through developer-friendly tooling, not in spite of it.

Conclusion

From AI-driven automation and autonomous remediation to cloud-native security, the future of DevSecOps is about embedding security seamlessly into every stage of software development. With the latest trends, you can break down silos, automate threat detection, and reduce business risks, especially in a multi-cloud world.

At Plexicus, we understand that adopting these advanced DevSecOps practices can be challenging without the right expertise and support. As a specialist DevSecOps consulting company, we follow the latest security protocols and compliance guidelines to ensure the best solution for your business. Our team of experienced software development and security professionals partners with you to design, implement, and optimize secure software delivery pipelines tailored to your unique business needs.

Contact Plexicus today and let us help you leverage cutting-edge DevSecOps trends to drive innovation with confidence.

Written by

José Palanco

José Ramón Palanco is the CEO/CTO of Plexicus, a pioneering company in ASPM (Application Security Posture Management) launched in 2024, offering AI-powered remediation capabilities. Previously, he founded Dinoflux in 2014, a Threat Intelligence startup that was acquired by Telefonica, and has been working with 11paths since 2018. His experience includes roles at Ericsson`s R&D department and Optenet (Allot). He holds a Telecommunications Engineering degree from the University of Alcala de Henares and a Master`s in IT Governance from the University of Deusto. As a recognized cybersecurity expert, he has been a speaker at various prestigious conferences including OWASP, ROOTEDCON, ROOTCON, MALCON, and FAQin. His contributions to the cybersecurity field include multiple CVE publications and the development of various open source tools such as nmap-scada, ProtocolDetector, escan, pma, EKanalyzer, SCADA IDS, and more.

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