DevSecOps represents a true “shift-left” approach - embedding security into every stage of the software development lifecycle. This is how unified security becomes reality.

Traditional Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions were not built to address the needs of a DevSecOps-driven organization. They are for a different era. Platforms like Splunk, QRadar, or LogRhythm excelled at reactive, after-the-fact analysis. Their core strength lies in post-mortem investigation, not in understanding application performance and code-level context, which a "shift-left" strategy demands. Moreso, they reinforce silos between security, development, and operations teams - precisely what DevSecOps seeks to eliminate.

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Datadog's Unified Security Vision: A Platform, Not a Patchwork

Datadog’s core value proposition is that it unifies disparate data streams into a single platform. Built on its industry-leading observability foundation, Datadog marries security with observability by leveraging metrics, traces, and logs. This is done through a unified agent, eliminating silos from the start.

Typical security operations focus heavily on logging - a core limitation of legacy SIEMs. By marrying security and observability, you can leverage metrics and traces to inform monitoring and alerting. This unified approach provides full-stack visibility in a "single pane of glass," providing every team with shared context and real-time insight. 

Importantly, Datadog’s security capabilities are not standalone products. They are tightly integrated modules that share data and context across the platform.

• Workload Protection detects threats to hosts and containers in real-time using the existing Datadog Agent.
• Application & API Protection (AAP) detects application-level attacks by flagging traces using the same tracing libraries as Application Performance Monitoring (APM), eliminating the need for a separate agent.
• Cloud SIEM offers log detection, which can tie security investigations to observability data.

These are just a few examples. Datadog’s architectural choice to unify observability and security data empowers organizations to prioritize issues based on actual risk – not theory or ever-present CVSS scores.

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The Competitive Landscape: Datadog vs. Traditional SIEMs

Legacy SIEMs once defined the security market, but their architecture no longer fits modern cloud-native needs. Splunk, for example, demands certification just to perform basic queries. Datadog, by contrast, offers an intuitive, integrated experience that aligns directly with DevSecOps principles.

Datadog approaches security from an observability-first perspective, providing full lifecycle protection- from Code Security during development to Workload Protection for runtime monitoring – all in one platform. It is built for today’s DevSecOps-driven world. You won’t find that in legacy solutions like Splunk, QRadar, or LogRhythm.

Luckily, RapDev is brimming with both Datadog talent and security expertise. If you want to move into the modern era with Datadog, or even better, your use of the platform, contact us today.