November 24, 2025

Modern Web Application Security: APIs, DevSecOps, and Continuous Testing

ATLAN TEAM

Web security has changed

Web applications are now cloud-native, modular, and deeply integrated into CI/CD pipelines. By 2025, industry estimates suggest roughly 95% of software projects adopt DevSecOps practices, embedding security into every phase of development.

Core practices for modern web app security

  • Shift-left security: Run SAST, dependency checks, and DAST early and often, not just before production.
  • Continuous assessment: Combine regular penetration testing with ongoing scanning and bug bounty workflows.
  • API and third-party hardening: Treat APIs as primary attack surfaces, enforce least privilege, and validate input rigorously.
  • DevOps collaboration: Embed security into developer workflows, code review, and ticketing.
  • Runtime defenses: Use WAFs, RASP, and behavior monitoring to catch attacks that bypass static controls.

Atlan Digital’s web app pentesting work reflects this reality: deep testing across web, mobile, and API layers with threat modeling baked into CI/CD flows.

Without these controls, small flaws can cascade into systemic exposure. Modern pentesting must reflect modern architectures to keep pace with risk.

Testing across the modern stack

Modern web applications span APIs, microservices, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure. Testing should reflect this complexity. Teams need to combine manual exploitation with automated controls, and validate secure design decisions end-to-end.

  • API-first assessment: Treat every API as a public interface and validate authorization flows, input handling, and rate controls.
  • Secure code review: Pair runtime testing with targeted review in Secure Code Review.
  • Cloud and infrastructure context: Misconfigured roles and identity boundaries surface in Infrastructure Testing.
  • Mobile and edge exposure: Expand scope through Mobile Testing when web and mobile share APIs.

What a leadership-ready assessment includes

The most valuable web app pentests map technical findings to risk, simulate realistic abuse cases, and deliver remediation guidance that engineering teams can act on immediately. A modern engagement also includes validation of DevSecOps controls and ASVS-aligned coverage to ensure consistent assurance across releases.

You can pair Web Application Testing with Secure Code Review when you need code-level assurance, and view our methodology here for how we run these engagements.

When these practices are in place, security leaders can demonstrate continuous control coverage rather than a one-off compliance exercise.

ENQUIRIES

Whether you represent a corporate, a consultancy, a government or an MSSP, we’d love to hear from you. To discover just how our offensive security contractors could help, get in touch.

General Enquiries

+44 (0)208 102 0765

enquiries@atlan.digital

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London
EC2A 4NE

New Business

Tom Kallo

+44 (0)208 102 0765

tom@atlan.digital