Product security refers to the process and outcomes of building security into a product, encompassing design, development, and testing, while a security champion is an individual within a development team who advocates for and helps implement security practices.
Security champions act as a bridge between the central security team and development teams, translating security initiatives into practical actions and fostering a security-aware culture, whereas product security engineers are dedicated security professionals focused on building robust security solutions.
How they relate Product security depends on champions: A security champion helps implement product security by bringing security expertise directly to the development team, making security a collaborative effort rather than a top-down mandate. Different roles, shared goal: Product security is the overarching strategic goal, while security champions are a critical organizational mechanism for achieving it. Champions help translate the abstract goals of product security into the concrete daily work of development teams.
Security Champions by OWASP https://owasp.org/www-project-security-culture/v10/4-Security_Champions/
Product security is the goal or discipline of creating secure products, while DevSecOps is the methodology or approach used to achieve that goal by integrating security practices into the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC). In essence, DevSecOps is a framework for embedding product security practices, making security everyone's responsibility rather than a separate, late-stage checkpoint.
Key Difference Product Security is the "What," DevSecOps is the "How" . You aim for product security, and DevSecOps is a widely adopted methodology to achieve it by transforming development culture and workflows. DevSecOps enables product security by fostering a security-first mindset and embedding security practices from the outset.
A Product Security Manager oversees security across an entire product's lifecycle, including hardware and software, to protect against broad threats and supply chain risks, while Application Security (AppSec) focuses specifically on securing application code and runtime environments against code-level vulnerabilities and exploits like SQL injection. Essentially, AppSec is a subset of the broader Product Security discipline.
Key Differences Breadth: Product security has a holistic view of the product system, while AppSec narrows its focus to individual applications. Components: Product Security considers physical components, hardware, and firmware in addition to software, whereas AppSec primarily deals with software security. Lifecycle: Product security extends beyond the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to cover the full product lifecycle.