Deel's Transition to Aikido: AI-Driven AppSec Reduces Scan Times and False Positives

Kadir, Platform Security Team Lead at Deel, describes the company’s transition from an ineffective application security (AppSec) tool to Aikido, highlighting its AI-driven approach to prioritizing exploitable vulnerabilities over raw scan results. The previous vendor produced high false-positive rates, requiring 14–15 hours per scan, while Aikido reduced scan times to under 10 minutes for large pull requests (PRs) and introduced a verification funnel to distinguish between general vulnerabilities and those confirmed as exploitable. Aikido’s integration includes direct developer feedback in PRs, an IDE extension with a 2–3% adoption rate under the prior tool (now significantly improved via MDM deployment), and autonomous AI code analysis using large language models (LLMs). The tool also addresses supply chain attacks by securing developer machines, extending protection to non-developers leveraging AI-assisted coding. Deel noted faster remediation, higher developer collaboration, and responsive vendor support, including direct access to Aikido’s CEO/CTO for rapid issue resolution. The shift enabled pre-production vulnerability fixes and aligned security with AI-driven development workflows.