The Vulnerability Ticking Clock

The clock is ticking. Every 17 minutes, a new vulnerability emerges. That’s 30,000 new vulnerabilities recorded every year. And attackers aren’t waiting around. Seventy-five percent of these vulnerabilities are exploited within 19 days or less. Yet organizations take over 100 days on average to patch them.

It doesn’t stop there. Back in 2018, organizations had 63 days before vulnerabilities were actively exploited. Today? Just five days. That means cybercriminals are working twelve times faster than they were just a few years ago.

The Problem No One Talks About

DevSecOps has done a great job of embedding security into development and release cycles. Secure coding practices, automated security scans, and shift-left testing have reduced risks during development.

But what about everything that happens after deployment?

Most vulnerabilities don’t arise during development. They emerge in production. Configuration errors, unpatched software, mismanaged credentials, shadow IT, third-party integrations. The list goes on. And when vulnerabilities appear post-release, organizations are at the mercy of the clock.

Attackers are not just moving fast. They are becoming more sophisticated.

Advanced threats are now powered by AI, allowing attackers to automate reconnaissance, identify vulnerabilities at scale, and execute breaches with precision. Cybercrime-as-a-service has made sophisticated attack tools available to anyone willing to pay, lowering the skill barrier for launching complex cyberattacks. Supply chain vulnerabilities mean that a security failure in one organization can trigger a cascade of breaches across multiple interconnected systems. Insider threats, whether intentional or accidental, continue to expose organizations to risks that cannot always be predicted or prevented through traditional security measures.

Most security strategies are not built to handle this new reality.

The Flawed Response: SecOps in Silos

Organizations recognize that DevSecOps does not address operational security risks, so they turn to SecOps, which focuses on security operations such as incident detection and response. SecOps plays a critical role by implementing automated incident response, real-time threat hunting, and security information and event management (SIEM) and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) tools. These measures help organizations mitigate live threats and improve their ability to respond to incidents.

However, SecOps has its own limitations. It is primarily reactive, meaning it focuses on responding to threats rather than preventing them. It often operates separately from development teams, creating silos that slow down response times. Additionally, it lacks end-to-end integration with development and deployment processes, leaving security gaps that attackers can exploit.

This results in a fragmented security model where DevSecOps focuses on securing development, and SecOps attempts to protect operations. Neither approach fully addresses the entire lifecycle, leaving organizations vulnerable in the phase where they are most at risk.

The Cost of Staying Reactive

The growing speed and complexity of cyber threats are pushing the cost of security failures to unprecedented levels. The average cost of a single data breach has now reached $4.88 million. In 65 percent of cases, companies report significant reputational damage after an incident. Meanwhile, shadow data—the untracked and unprotected data that accumulates across digital environments—is multiplying risk, creating gaps that security teams cannot even see, let alone protect.

Relying on traditional security approaches—patching vulnerabilities, monitoring logs, and responding after an attack—has become unsustainable. Organizations cannot afford to remain reactive when attackers are moving this quickly.

A Future Without Handoffs or Silos

Security should not be an either-or choice between DevSecOps and SecOps. Organizations need a new Intelligent Continuous Security™ model that leverages AI to eliminate handoffs and seamlessly integrates security across the entire lifecycle, from development to operations and beyond.

This approach leverages AI tools to embed security from the start of development through deployment and into ongoing operations. It enables real-time monitoring that detects vulnerabilities as they emerge, rather than weeks or months later. It leverages AI-driven threat intelligence to predict and prevent attacks before they happen. It ensures that security keeps pace with business innovation, allowing teams to move fast without compromising protection.

Stop Playing Catch-Up with Security

Security cannot be an afterthought. It cannot exist in silos. And it cannot stay reactive. The threats are accelerating, and organizations need a smarter approach to keep up.

DASA Intelligent Continuous Security (ICS) is designed for this reality. It eliminates the gaps between DevSecOps and SecOps, embedding security across the entire lifecycle. With real-time monitoring, AI-driven threat detection, and automated security integration, it provides the agility and resilience organizations need to stay ahead.

Do not wait until the next vulnerability becomes the next breach. Learn how DASA Intelligent Continuous Security can help you build security that is as continuous as the threats it defends against.

Intelligent Continuous Security is a Trademark of Engineering DevOps Consulting.