From Periodic Assessments to Continuous AppSec Assurance

How a Fortune 500 Digital Workspace Solutions Provider Reduced Runtime Application Risk with Invicti

For organizations operating at the intersection of digital commerce and customer experience, vulnerabilities in external-facing applications and workflows are much more than an IT problem. Exploitable risks in online ordering and personalized communications also threaten customers, revenue, and brand trust.

For one Fortune 500 digital workspace solutions provider (DWSP), that challenge is especially important. The Chief Security Officer’s team is responsible for enterprise security strategy, risk management, and governance across the company’s customer-facing platforms. For the DWSP team, the mission is simple: Protect customers and the company against exploitable risk.  

“Our organization partners with engineering and product teams to reduce real-world application risk, strengthen customer trust, and support compliance and customer assurance requirements.”
—Chief Security Officer, Fortune 500 Digital Workspace Solutions Provider

The DWSP needed to evolve beyond traditional point-in-time security testing toward a more continuous, runtime-focused AppSec program that could keep pace with software delivery and validate real-world exploitability in live customer workflows.

The Challenge: Securing customer-facing applications amid evolving threats and environments

The DWSP’s primary concern was securing customer-facing applications that are both continuously evolving and directly accessible by external users. Traditional security assessments provided periodic insights but not the always-on visibility needed to identify exploitable runtime risk as applications changed over time.

The security team specifically wanted the ability to:

• Validate application security from an attacker’s perspective, not just as a checklist
• Identify vulnerabilities that were actually exploitable at runtime
• Continuously assess real customer workflows, not comparisons to past releases
• Reduce reliance on one-time assessments that don’t scale with development velocity

“The main driver was the need to proactively validate the security posture of a critical, customer-facing application from an attacker’s perspective – focusing on what is actually exploitable at runtime.”

Operational fit was also crucial. An optimal solution would need to align with release cycles, support repeatable testing, and provide findings that engineering teams could act on quickly and confidently.

During the evaluation process, three priorities emerged.

1. Accuracy and proof of exploitability: Findings had to be demonstrably real, not noise
2. Runtime validation: Testing against live applications and actual customer workflows
3. Automation and reporting aligned to business impact: Results that could drive effective prioritization, not just checklists

Ultimately, the DWSP selected the Invicti Application Security Platform for its strong alignment with continuous assurance and runtime-focused DAST (dynamic application security testing) validation.

“Invicti stood out because it aligns strongly to real-world exploitability, produces actionable findings, and supports the continuous assurance model we want for externally exposed applications.”

Implementation: Fast time to value, built for continuity

Because DAST operates against live applications without requiring source code access, the onboarding process was notably fast. The team didn't need to instrument code, negotiate repository access, or wait for a development environment to be configured.

“We were able to get up and running quickly because DAST testing is performed against the live application and does not require source access to begin generating value.”

Meaningful findings surfaced early in the rollout, enabling the DWSP’s security and engineering teams to start prioritizing remediation efforts based on runtime exploitability and business impact. Invicti’s implementation guidance helped tune scanning configurations and focus testing efforts on the most critical exposure areas.

Operationally, Invicti integrated naturally into the DWSP’s release-driven workflow. Automated, repeatable scans allowed the security team to align testing with release cycles, turning what had been periodic security tests into a continuous assurance function.

“Invicti fits well into our operational workflow because it supports repeatable, automated scanning that can be scheduled and aligned to release cycles.”

Crucially, this integration served to reduce friction between security and engineering teams by tying findings directly to observable runtime behavior, shifting their conversations from issue identification to fixes.

The results: Rooting out real customer-facing risks

With Invicti in place, the DWSP gained consistent visibility into exploitable runtime risk across its customer-facing applications, providing immediate real-world value. 

One of the most significant findings was a Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) exposure identified in a critical storefront workflow. Because the application handled customer interactions and was externally accessible, the issue posed a potentially high-impact business risk, including session compromise, data exposure, and phishing.

“In one assessment of a critical customer-facing storefront workflow, Invicti identified instances of insufficient handling of user-supplied input that could lead to Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).”

The finding drove quick action to prioritize remediation efforts and then validate that the vulnerability had been fully resolved through re-testing, closing the loop that traditional point-in-time assessments often leave open.

Beyond the XSS finding, the DWSP team also identified outdated third-party components and additional runtime exposure points that could directly affect customer trust and operational resilience if breached. 

By selecting the Invicti Application Security Platform, the DWSP obtained numerous operational benefits including:

• Consistent, repeatable test coverage across release cycles
• Better visibility into risk reduction over time, not just risk discovery
• Reduced dependence on one-time assessments and manual testing
• Faster validation of remediation efforts through automated re-testing

Perhaps most importantly, Invicti fostered improved collaboration between security and engineering teams by shifting conversations away from theoretical risk and toward validated runtime exposure.

“Instead of debating theoretical risk, we can prioritize what is demonstrably exploitable in the running environment and tie remediation to business impact.”

The business outcome: Continuous AppSec assurance

For the DWSP, the value Invicti provided was less about individual vulnerability findings and more about transforming AppSec from a periodic security and audit function into an ongoing business assurance capability.

By integrating DAST-based, runtime-focused risk validation into ongoing release processes, the DWSP team established its desired continuous assurance model, improved executive visibility into application risk posture, and strengthened the DWSP’s standing in customer and vendor assurance reviews.

“The biggest value for us has been turning application security into an ongoing assurance cycle: scan, remediate, and re-validate – while communicating risk in business terms.”

For organizations like the DWSP, with externally exposed digital platforms – where customer trust, brand reputation, and revenue always hinge on application resilience – runtime security validation is no longer optional; it is necessary. As applications continue to evolve at the pace of business, continuous runtime assurance is how security keeps up.