Moving from academic research to industry is non-trivial
I was recently interviewed for the Silver Bullet podcast, hosted by Gary McGraw where I discussed the advantages of industry over academic research, why it was non-trivial to start a business in Europe and where the Application Security industry is moving towards in the future.
While it was never my intention to start a business, I did because I saw too many companies struggling with the same problem; writing secure code is a challenge for most developers. We have an entire industry focused on finding security problems in code, and these problems are just piling up.
There are very few solutions that are actually focused on efficiently helping organizations and their development team that struggle with fixing the problems found, and even less on trying to prevent more problems being introduced in code. More and more, organizations are becoming aware of this vicious cycle and are realizing that their development team need to be trained on writing secure code from the beginning and they need to be equipped with the tools and processes to enable them.
If you want to know more about how Gary McGraw and myself see the industry moving forward, check out the the Silver Bullet podcast!
Show 139: Matias Madou discusses secure development training and software security testing research
https://www.synopsys.com/software-integrity/resources/podcasts/show-139.html
Show 139: Matias Madou discusses secure development training and software security testing research
Matias Madou, Ph.D. is a security expert, researcher, and CTO and co-founder of Secure Code Warrior. Matias obtained his Ph.D. in Application Security from Ghent University, focusing on static analysis solutions. He later joined Fortify in the US, where he realized that it was insufficient to solely detect code problems without aiding developers in writing secure code. This inspired him to develop products that assist developers, alleviate the burden of security, and exceed customers' expectations. When he is not at his desk as part of Team Awesome, he enjoys being on stage presenting at conferences including RSA Conference, BlackHat and DefCon.
Secure Code Warrior is here for your organization to help you secure code across the entire software development lifecycle and create a culture in which cybersecurity is top of mind. Whether you’re an AppSec Manager, Developer, CISO, or anyone involved in security, we can help your organization reduce risks associated with insecure code.
Book a demoMatias Madou, Ph.D. is a security expert, researcher, and CTO and co-founder of Secure Code Warrior. Matias obtained his Ph.D. in Application Security from Ghent University, focusing on static analysis solutions. He later joined Fortify in the US, where he realized that it was insufficient to solely detect code problems without aiding developers in writing secure code. This inspired him to develop products that assist developers, alleviate the burden of security, and exceed customers' expectations. When he is not at his desk as part of Team Awesome, he enjoys being on stage presenting at conferences including RSA Conference, BlackHat and DefCon.
Matias is a researcher and developer with more than 15 years of hands-on software security experience. He has developed solutions for companies such as Fortify Software and his own company Sensei Security. Over his career, Matias has led multiple application security research projects which have led to commercial products and boasts over 10 patents under his belt. When he is away from his desk, Matias has served as an instructor for advanced application security training courses and regularly speaks at global conferences including RSA Conference, Black Hat, DefCon, BSIMM, OWASP AppSec and BruCon.
Matias holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Ghent University, where he studied application security through program obfuscation to hide the inner workings of an application.
I was recently interviewed for the Silver Bullet podcast, hosted by Gary McGraw where I discussed the advantages of industry over academic research, why it was non-trivial to start a business in Europe and where the Application Security industry is moving towards in the future.
While it was never my intention to start a business, I did because I saw too many companies struggling with the same problem; writing secure code is a challenge for most developers. We have an entire industry focused on finding security problems in code, and these problems are just piling up.
There are very few solutions that are actually focused on efficiently helping organizations and their development team that struggle with fixing the problems found, and even less on trying to prevent more problems being introduced in code. More and more, organizations are becoming aware of this vicious cycle and are realizing that their development team need to be trained on writing secure code from the beginning and they need to be equipped with the tools and processes to enable them.
If you want to know more about how Gary McGraw and myself see the industry moving forward, check out the the Silver Bullet podcast!
Show 139: Matias Madou discusses secure development training and software security testing research
https://www.synopsys.com/software-integrity/resources/podcasts/show-139.html
I was recently interviewed for the Silver Bullet podcast, hosted by Gary McGraw where I discussed the advantages of industry over academic research, why it was non-trivial to start a business in Europe and where the Application Security industry is moving towards in the future.
While it was never my intention to start a business, I did because I saw too many companies struggling with the same problem; writing secure code is a challenge for most developers. We have an entire industry focused on finding security problems in code, and these problems are just piling up.
There are very few solutions that are actually focused on efficiently helping organizations and their development team that struggle with fixing the problems found, and even less on trying to prevent more problems being introduced in code. More and more, organizations are becoming aware of this vicious cycle and are realizing that their development team need to be trained on writing secure code from the beginning and they need to be equipped with the tools and processes to enable them.
If you want to know more about how Gary McGraw and myself see the industry moving forward, check out the the Silver Bullet podcast!
Show 139: Matias Madou discusses secure development training and software security testing research
https://www.synopsys.com/software-integrity/resources/podcasts/show-139.html
Click on the link below and download the PDF of this resource.
Secure Code Warrior is here for your organization to help you secure code across the entire software development lifecycle and create a culture in which cybersecurity is top of mind. Whether you’re an AppSec Manager, Developer, CISO, or anyone involved in security, we can help your organization reduce risks associated with insecure code.
View reportBook a demoMatias Madou, Ph.D. is a security expert, researcher, and CTO and co-founder of Secure Code Warrior. Matias obtained his Ph.D. in Application Security from Ghent University, focusing on static analysis solutions. He later joined Fortify in the US, where he realized that it was insufficient to solely detect code problems without aiding developers in writing secure code. This inspired him to develop products that assist developers, alleviate the burden of security, and exceed customers' expectations. When he is not at his desk as part of Team Awesome, he enjoys being on stage presenting at conferences including RSA Conference, BlackHat and DefCon.
Matias is a researcher and developer with more than 15 years of hands-on software security experience. He has developed solutions for companies such as Fortify Software and his own company Sensei Security. Over his career, Matias has led multiple application security research projects which have led to commercial products and boasts over 10 patents under his belt. When he is away from his desk, Matias has served as an instructor for advanced application security training courses and regularly speaks at global conferences including RSA Conference, Black Hat, DefCon, BSIMM, OWASP AppSec and BruCon.
Matias holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Ghent University, where he studied application security through program obfuscation to hide the inner workings of an application.
I was recently interviewed for the Silver Bullet podcast, hosted by Gary McGraw where I discussed the advantages of industry over academic research, why it was non-trivial to start a business in Europe and where the Application Security industry is moving towards in the future.
While it was never my intention to start a business, I did because I saw too many companies struggling with the same problem; writing secure code is a challenge for most developers. We have an entire industry focused on finding security problems in code, and these problems are just piling up.
There are very few solutions that are actually focused on efficiently helping organizations and their development team that struggle with fixing the problems found, and even less on trying to prevent more problems being introduced in code. More and more, organizations are becoming aware of this vicious cycle and are realizing that their development team need to be trained on writing secure code from the beginning and they need to be equipped with the tools and processes to enable them.
If you want to know more about how Gary McGraw and myself see the industry moving forward, check out the the Silver Bullet podcast!
Show 139: Matias Madou discusses secure development training and software security testing research
https://www.synopsys.com/software-integrity/resources/podcasts/show-139.html
Table of contents
Matias Madou, Ph.D. is a security expert, researcher, and CTO and co-founder of Secure Code Warrior. Matias obtained his Ph.D. in Application Security from Ghent University, focusing on static analysis solutions. He later joined Fortify in the US, where he realized that it was insufficient to solely detect code problems without aiding developers in writing secure code. This inspired him to develop products that assist developers, alleviate the burden of security, and exceed customers' expectations. When he is not at his desk as part of Team Awesome, he enjoys being on stage presenting at conferences including RSA Conference, BlackHat and DefCon.
Secure Code Warrior is here for your organization to help you secure code across the entire software development lifecycle and create a culture in which cybersecurity is top of mind. Whether you’re an AppSec Manager, Developer, CISO, or anyone involved in security, we can help your organization reduce risks associated with insecure code.
Book a demoDownloadResources to get you started
Resources to get you started
10 Key Predictions: Secure Code Warrior on AI & Secure-by-Design’s Influence in 2025
Organizations are facing tough decisions on AI usage to support long-term productivity, sustainability, and security ROI. It’s become clear to us over the last few years that AI will never fully replace the role of the developer. From AI + developer partnerships to the increasing pressures (and confusion) around Secure-by-Design expectations, let’s take a closer look at what we can expect over the next year.
OWASP Top 10 For LLM Applications: What’s New, Changed, and How to Stay Secure
Stay ahead in securing LLM applications with the latest OWASP Top 10 updates. Discover what's new, what’s changed, and how Secure Code Warrior equips you with up-to-date learning resources to mitigate risks in Generative AI.
Trust Score Reveals the Value of Secure-by-Design Upskilling Initiatives
Our research has shown that secure code training works. Trust Score, using an algorithm drawing on more than 20 million learning data points from work by more than 250,000 learners at over 600 organizations, reveals its effectiveness in driving down vulnerabilities and how to make the initiative even more effective.
Reactive Versus Preventive Security: Prevention Is a Better Cure
The idea of bringing preventive security to legacy code and systems at the same time as newer applications can seem daunting, but a Secure-by-Design approach, enforced by upskilling developers, can apply security best practices to those systems. It’s the best chance many organizations have of improving their security postures.