What is shift-left security

This episode of Techsplainers introduces shift-left security, the practice of moving security earlier in the software development lifecycle instead of treating it as a final review step. It explains how teams can build security into planning, coding, testing and delivery workflows so vulnerabilities are found when they are easier and less costly to fix. The episode walks through the logic behind the approach, clarifies how shift-left security fits modern development methods like CI/CD, and defines related concepts such as static application security testing and software composition analysis in plain language. It also explores the benefits of earlier detection, reduced remediation effort and stronger collaboration between development and security teams, while addressing common challenges like alert overload, false positives and skills gaps. Finally, it sets up the rest of the series by showing how topics like static code analysis, AI unit testing, AI debugging and AI-generated code risks connect back to this broader security approach. Find more information at https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/shift-left-security Find all the Techsplainers episodes here https://www.ibm.biz/techsplainers-podcast Narrated by Ian Smalley