Shift Left vs. Shift Right: Benefits and Differences in Approaches

Introduction to shift left vs. shift right

Applications and services dealing with sensitive data need robust security practices to protect that data, maintain customer trust, and ensure the continuity of service operations. Developers can either “shift left” or “shift right” when implementing solutions to meet these requirements. 

“Shift left vs. shift right” refers to how solutions are integrated into the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and tech stacks. Shifting left focuses on embedding security measures early in the SDLC—from planning to coding phases—addressing and identifying vulnerabilities prior to deployment.

Shifting right focuses on implementing post-deployment security measures, including real-time monitoring, threat detection, and incident response to safeguard applications in production.

While “shifting left” has garnered more tech headlines in recent years, both strategies have advantages. Importantly, shift left and shift right strategies are not mutually exclusive. In fact, organizations that combine shift left and shift right can achieve comprehensive security and address risks throughout the entire SDLC. 

This article explores both the shift-left and shift-right approaches in detail, comparing the benefits and differences and how each approach can strengthen overall security posture.

Understanding shift left: proactive security in early development

The shift-left approach focuses on integrating security from the beginning of the SDLC. A shift-left approach allows teams to reduce the cost and complexity of security issues by designing solutions with security in mind and detecting issues early in a project's planning and development phases. 

Techniques used in shift left

There are a number of different techniques used in the shift-left approach. Techniques in the shift-left approach include the following: 

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST): Uses application security tooling to scan source code for vulnerabilities without running the application. SAST tools help detect high-impact issues, such as cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injections (SQLi). 
• Threat modeling: Assesses applications and services to identify threats and inform mitigation techniques. Threat modeling can be expensive because it requires cybersecurity expertise and domain knowledge of the software.
• Secure coding practices: Involves educating developers and implementing coding patterns that adhere to cybersecurity norms and best practices. A simple and effective technique for enforcing secure coding practices is making cybersecurity requirements a part of code reviews. 

Tools and practices to detect security gaps

Software development teams can automate the implementation of the above techniques into existing SDLC processes with Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) integrations. CI/CD integrates static analysis and code scanning tools to report potential issues and suggest code improvements. 

By utilizing this information during the code review process, developers have a low-friction way to detect and address security issues that can be easily missed.

Understanding shift right: security resilience in production

The shift-right approach to security focuses on securing applications post-deployment. In this approach, capturing security events as they crop up and tracking evolving threats in live environments requires continuous monitoring and real-time protection of applications. 

Techniques used in shift right

Several different techniques are used in the shift-right approach, including: 

• Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST): Performed against a compiled and running application and involves security testing such as parameter injection to check for unintended or insecure behavior. DAST can either be done manually or with automated tooling that attempts to exploit the application.
• Runtime protection: Examples include RASP and container runtime security tools, both of which are critical to protecting the software runtime environments. Trusted sources for container images and only executing signed binaries can reduce runtime risk.
• Application Security Posture Management (ASPM): These platforms provide organizations with a holistic view of all identified vulnerabilities across applications and cloud platforms. Using ASPM, teams can effectively assess, triage, and prioritize which issues should be mitigated first, and provide an inventory of assets and their associated vulnerabilities that should be mitigated. 

Post-deployment tools and processes

Tools and processes for identifying, mitigating, and responding to threats post-deployment can include incident detection and response platforms that provide complete workflows for teams to triage, assign, and remediate issues as they are detected. 

Using user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), organizations can leverage anomaly detection and surface unknown threats that would be otherwise missed with traditional scanner approaches.

Shift left vs. shift right: complementary, not competing

The shift-left and shift-right approaches are not competing perspectives, but rather complementary tactics. Adopting the best of both approaches enables the swift and early detection of security vulnerabilities, while ensuring the ongoing security of software post-deployment, creating a valuable feedback loop. 

These complementary approaches foster a better DevSecOps culture, as teams can then focus on their deployment and application patterns to ensure applications are built for security from the ground up. A combined approach also provides organizations with a balance between proactive and reactive security for complete lifecycle coverage.

Maximizing security resilience with a balanced approach

Shift left and shift right are complementary approaches that focus on different SDLC aspects. CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform offers a holistic approach to shifting left and right. When shifting left, Falcon Cloud Security provides continuous security and compliance monitoring for cloud-native applications to identify and remediate vulnerabilities during the build phase. ASPM also proactively detects misconfigurations and vulnerabilities early in the development cycle. 

When shifting right, Falcon OverWatch provides managed threat hunting through continuous monitoring and threat detection to identify and respond in real time. Falcon Insight XDR also provides extended endpoint detection and response backed by threat intelligence and native AI, facilitating rapid detection and remediation of security incidents.

If you’re ready to elevate your security game, explore CrowdStrike's platform with a free 15-day trial and experience the power of integrated security solutions.