Dark Reading Opens The State of Application Security Survey

Dark Reading opens The State of Application Security Survey, a new 2026 initiative building on last year’s findings, with Fahmida Y. Rashid, the Managing Editor, noting the aim is to uncover changes, improvements and new challenges in app security. December 26, 2025 marks the article's publication, and it states the piece is a 3 Min Read.

Last year’s annual State of Enterprise Application Security survey involved over 100 cybersecurity professionals, and the new survey intends to benchmark how organisations secure software as the threat landscape evolves.

Key takeaways from the 2025 report included that 44% of respondents cited a lack of application security skills as their biggest AppSec obstacle, while 39% use SBOM for vulnerability identification and for risk assessment, and 37% for patch prioritisation, with 49% relying on a centralized repository to manage dependencies.

As an incentive, all participants who complete the survey are entered into a drawing to win one of five $50 Amazon gift cards, and responses will be reported in aggregate to protect privacy, according to Yuri Arcurs via Alamy Stock Photo.