This article conducts a deep dive into Step 4B — “Test Stage → Manual Penetration Testing” of DevSecOps
It covers business rationale, test models, tooling, and integration best practices
Manual Penetration Testing (PT) is a non-negotiable in DevSecOps, identifying complex flaws automated tools miss
It serves as a “final checkpoint” to validate runtime defenses, expose chainable vulnerabilities, and simulate real-world attacker workflows
Manual PT is a gatekeeper in high-risk contexts, including authentication, infrastructure changes, sensitive data, and compliance regimes
It closes the loop with threat modeling, policy-as-code, and software bill of materials (SBOM) enrichment
disregard the value of simulation-based testing and adversary simulation to validate runtime controls, uncover complex vulnerabilities, and ensure architectural resilience against evolving attack methodologies.