What is Shift Left Security?

Key takeaways

Shift Left Security integrates security practices earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to identify and eliminate vulnerabilities before deployment, not after.
This approach reduces remediation costs, improves cross-team collaboration under a DevSecOps model, and enables faster, safer product delivery.
ORing applies Shift Left Security principles — aligned with IEC 62443-4-1 (2018 edition) — across its OT Cybersecurity product line and industrial Ethernet switch firmware development.

Shift Left Security is a software and product development methodology that integrates security practices into the earliest stages of the development lifecycle — design, coding, and testing — rather than treating security as a final pre-release checkpoint. The term "shift left" refers to moving security activities to the left side of the development timeline, where vulnerabilities are least costly to resolve. In industrial OT environments, Shift Left Security aligns with IEC 62443-4-1 (2018 edition) — the international standard for secure product development lifecycle requirements in industrial automation and control systems (IACS).

Why Shift Left Security matters

In today's fast-paced development cycles and increasingly connected industrial environments, reactive security — patching vulnerabilities after deployment — is no longer sufficient. For OT devices such as industrial Ethernet switches and secure routers, a post-deployment vulnerability can affect infrastructure with a 10–20 year operational lifespan. Shifting security left delivers measurable benefits at every stage:

Early vulnerability detection — catch and fix issues before they reach production, when remediation costs are lowest.
Reduced remediation costs — fixing a security flaw during development costs an estimated 6× less than fixing it after release (NIST SP 800-218, 2022 edition).
Faster, safer delivery — integrating security into CI/CD pipelines removes bottlenecks at the final release stage.
Improved collaboration — developers, QA, and security teams work together under a unified DevSecOps model.
Standards compliance — meet IEC 62443-4-1, NIST SP 800-218, and customer security requirements with confidence.

How Shift Left Security works across the development lifecycle

Effective implementation combines purpose-built tooling, automation, and a security-first culture applied consistently across every development phase. The table below maps each stage to its corresponding security practices, following the OWASP Software Assurance Maturity Model (SAMM) and IEC 62443-4-1 requirements:

Stage	Security practices	Key standards / tools
Design & planning	Threat modelling, secure architecture review, security requirements definition	IEC 62443-4-1 SR-1, STRIDE threat model
Development	Secure coding guidelines, static application security testing (SAST), dependency checks	OWASP Top 10, SCA tools
Integration / build	Automated vulnerability scanning, CI/CD security gates, dynamic testing (DAST)	IEC 62443-4-1 SR-5, OWASP ZAP
Testing & validation	Penetration testing, fuzz testing, code review	IEC 62443-4-1 SR-6, NIST SP 800-115
Deployment & operation	Continuous monitoring, patch management, "Shift Right" validation	IEC 62443-2-3 (patch management), CVE tracking

How Shift Left Security applies to industrial OT network products

Industrial OT networking devices — including managed Ethernet switches, secure routers, and cellular gateways — operate in critical infrastructure environments where a post-deployment security patch may require a maintenance window, physical site access, or a full firmware re-certification cycle. This makes pre-deployment security validation especially important.

IEC 62443-4-1 (2018 edition) defines secure product development lifecycle (SDL) requirements specifically for IACS component vendors, covering:

Security management practices during product development
Specification of security requirements for each product release
Secure design and implementation guidelines
Security verification and validation testing before release
Defect management and patch release processes post-deployment

ORing applies these practices across its OT Cybersecurity product line, including industrial Ethernet switches and secure routers designed for deployment in IEC 62443-compliant environments.

What is the difference between SAST and DAST?

Two of the most commonly applied Shift Left tools are static and dynamic security testing:

SAST (Static Application Security Testing) — analyses source code or compiled binaries without executing the application. Identifies vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows, insecure function calls, and hardcoded credentials at the development stage, before any code is deployed.
DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) — tests a running application by simulating external attacks, uncovering runtime vulnerabilities that static analysis cannot detect, including authentication flaws, injection attacks, and session management weaknesses.

A complete Shift Left Security programme integrates both: SAST during development and code review, DAST during integration testing and pre-release validation, in line with IEC 62443-4-1 SR-5 and SR-6 verification requirements.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is Shift Left Security?

Shift Left Security is a development methodology that moves security practices to the earliest stages of the software development lifecycle — design, coding, and testing — rather than treating security as a final checkpoint before release. The goal is to identify and eliminate vulnerabilities when they are least costly to fix, before code reaches production or a deployed device in the field.

2. How does Shift Left Security relate to IEC 62443?

IEC 62443-4-1 (2018 edition) defines secure product development lifecycle requirements for industrial automation and control system (IACS) components — directly mapping to Shift Left principles. It requires threat modelling, security requirements definition, secure design review, and vulnerability testing to be completed during development, not after. Industrial networking vendors that comply with IEC 62443-4-1 effectively apply Shift Left Security as a certified practice.

3. What is the difference between SAST and DAST in Shift Left Security?

SAST (Static Application Security Testing) analyses source code without executing the application, catching vulnerabilities at the development stage. DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) tests a running application by simulating external attacks, identifying runtime vulnerabilities that SAST cannot detect. A complete programme uses both: SAST during development, DAST during integration and pre-release testing, per IEC 62443-4-1 SR-5 and SR-6.

4. What is DevSecOps and how does it relate to Shift Left Security?

DevSecOps is the operational model that embeds security into every stage of the DevOps workflow — from planning and coding through CI/CD pipeline automation to production monitoring. It is the practical implementation of Shift Left Security: security testing and validation are automated and integrated throughout the pipeline, rather than handled by a separate team at the end of the development cycle.

5. Why is Shift Left Security important for industrial OT networks?

OT devices such as industrial Ethernet switches operate with 10–20 year lifespans in critical infrastructure where patching a deployed device may require physical site access and re-certification. Applying Shift Left Security during product development eliminates vulnerabilities before devices are deployed in substations, factories, or railway networks — significantly reducing the attack surface over the product's full operational life.

6. How does ORing apply Shift Left Security to its products?

ORing applies Shift Left Security principles aligned with IEC 62443-4-1 (2018 edition) across firmware development for its industrial Ethernet switches and OT Cybersecurity product line. This includes threat modelling during product design, SAST and dependency scanning during CI/CD integration, and penetration testing before release — producing devices ready for deployment in IEC 62443-compliant environments.

7. What standards and frameworks support Shift Left Security implementation?

Key references include: IEC 62443-4-1 (2018 edition) for industrial product SDL requirements; NIST SP 800-218 (2022 edition) for secure software development framework; OWASP SAMM for software assurance maturity; and the OWASP Top 10 for common application vulnerability identification.