A secure software development life cycle means baking security into plan, design, build, test, and maintenance, rather than sprinkling it on at the end, Sara Martinez said in her talk Ensuring Software Security at Online TestConf. Testers aren't bug finders but early defenders, building security and quality in from the first sprint. Culture first, automation second, continuous testing and monitoring all the way; that's how you make security a habit instead of a fire drill, she argued.
Before an attacker ever sends a payload, they've already done the work of understanding how your environment is built. They look at your login flows, your JavaScript files, your error messages, your API documentation, your GitHub repos. These are all clues that help them understand how your systems behave. AI is significantly accelerating reconnaissance and enabling attackers to map your environment with greater speed and precision.