Why Assigning Remediation Ownership Takes Longer Than Fixing Issues—and How to Fix It

Application security teams face an overwhelming challenge: determining remediation ownership. Despite efforts to streamline security responses, this critical step remains a persistent roadblock. Security teams often struggle to identify the appropriate developer or team to address a security issue. According to our research, for many organizations, determining who will fix a security issue takes as much time as actually fixing it. This means that half of the time allocated to meeting security SLAs is spent simply routing issues to the correct team. This lack of clarity creates friction at every stage of the remediation process, leading to inefficiencies, delays, and strained relationships between security and development teams.

Determining remediation ownership is no simple task. It requires understanding the root cause of a security issue, analyzing past development activity, current organizational responsibilities, and team capacity. Performing this analysis manually for every remediation effort is not only painful but also unscalable. When delays occur, unresolved issues pile up, and business pressures mount. This often results in out-of-band work, increased stress, and a breakdown in trust between security and development teams. Streamlining ownership isn’t just about saving time—it’s about ensuring accountability, enabling better tracking and reporting, and encouraging positive behaviors that improve security practices across the board.

Yet, assigning remediation tasks is just one part of the ownership equation. True ownership includes accountability for meeting SLAs, providing developers with clear points of contact for security guidance, and ensuring stakeholders—ranging from developers to executives—receive timely, automated updates on progress. When ownership is treated as a simplistic concept, such as assigning a ticket via git blame, it oversimplifies these responsibilities. This approach often leads to miscommunication, unmet expectations, and diminished trust across teams.

A Fresh Perspective on Ownership

To address this challenge effectively, organizations need a new perspective on ownership—one that embraces the complexity of modern software development. By clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and escalation paths, teams can reduce friction, accelerate remediation, and foster stronger collaboration between security and development teams. This isn’t just about fixing vulnerabilities faster; it’s about building a culture of trust and accountability that enhances both security and customer confidence.

How Heeler Makes Ownership Effortless

Heeler is transforming the way organizations approach ownership in application security. It goes far beyond the basics of git blame to assign remediation tickets. Leveraging the well-established RACI matrix, Heeler helps organizations clearly define and manage responsibilities across the security lifecycle, while Heeler's ProductDNA ensures these responsibilities are maintained—even as teams evolve or organizational structures change.

Heeler takes ownership to the next level by performing root cause analysis and identifying developers most relevant to specific areas of code. By integrating with organizational data and on-call schedules, Heeler intelligently narrows down the right developers and teams for each issue. This dramatically reduces the time and effort required for manual assignments.

But ownership doesn’t end with assigning tasks. Heeler tracks remediation efforts, enabling organizations to celebrate top performers and champion behaviors that drive security excellence across teams. It also uncovers patterns in development that signal the need for focused security training to prevent recurring issues, creating a proactive approach to improvement.

And it doesn’t stop there. ProductDNA automates the flow of information across stakeholders, notifying executives with critical updates, providing developers with dedicated security contacts for guidance, and ensuring leadership remains accountable for meeting SLAs. By creating a seamless system of communication and accountability, Heeler drives alignment and collaboration between security and development teams.

See the Difference

When paired with Heeler’s accurate detections and rich contextual insights, these ownership capabilities transform the entire security response process. By reducing friction, fostering collaboration, and streamlining remediation, Heeler empowers organizations to move faster and build more secure applications.

Ready to redefine ownership in your organization? Book a demo today and see how Heeler can revolutionize your security response process!

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