earn how SAST and SCA differ, what risks each addresses, and why modern AppSec teams need both to secure code and dependencies.

Aikido Security

SAST and SCA are two complementary application security techniques that address different risk sources. SAST analyzes your own source code for vulnerabilities like SQL injection, hard-coded secrets, and insecure cryptography without executing it. SCA scans third-party open-source dependencies for known CVEs, license compliance issues, and supply-chain risks. Key features of each are covered, including data-flow analysis and CI/CD integration for SAST, and SBOM generation and transitive dependency detection for SCA. Both have limitations — false positives and coverage gaps — and neither alone provides full coverage. Modern AppSec teams should run both continuously to secure the full application stack from first commit to production.

SAST vs SCA Explained: Securing Your Code and Dependencies

What is Static Application Security Testing (SAST)?

What is Software composition analysis (SCA)?

Combining SAST and SCA For Effective Application Security