Ideas for businesses rarely emerge out of nowhere; they often stem from a founder’s or customer’s experience with a particular pain point. This was certainly the case with Perceptive, which was born after two decades of our founding team building digital products and striving to make them secure.

But it also mirrors a broader evolution we’ve seen in digital security: from its early days, when security was often an afterthought, to the present, where proactive security integration is a cornerstone of high-quality digital product development.

The early years: reactive security

If you spend enough time with a seasoned security professional, they will likely share a few stories from the early days of product development, when security measures were largely reactive. These measures were typically implemented only after an incident had occurred, such as a breach or threat detection. Security was often treated as a separate component rather than an integral part of the development process. And, while these reactive fixes provided temporary (and often stressful and costly) solutions, they often failed to address the underlying vulnerabilities. A prime example is the SQL Slammer worm of 2003, a fast-spreading worm that exploited a known vulnerability in Microsoft SQL Server. Within just 10 minutes, it had infected most of its 75,000 victims. Although a patch had been available six months prior, many systems remained unpatched, leaving them vulnerable to the attack.

The wake-up call: high-profile breaches

As technology became more integrated into daily life, high-profile security breaches increasingly made headlines, serving as a wake-up call for businesses and their customers. Companies began to understand the devastating consequences of inadequate digital security—both financially and reputationally—which underscored the urgent need for more robust protections. Take the 2013 Target breach, where hackers were able to access over 40 million credit and debit card numbers, along with 70 million customer records, for example. It remains one of the largest data breaches in history (although incidents like this are becoming increasingly common, just take a quick look at any good security news blog), costing Target an estimated $202 million.

A shift to proactive security

Over the past decade, the limitations of reactive security have become widely recognised, leading to a positive (and much needed) shift toward proactive measures. This new approach, often referred to as ‘secure by design’—a concept we’ll discuss a lot on this blog in the coming months—involves anticipating potential threats and embedding security into the product design phase. It marks not just a tactical change but a fundamental rethinking of security’s role.

Welcome to the era of ‘secure by design’

So, what does ‘secure by design’ actually mean for product teams, engineers, and customers? For those building products, it means security is treated as a priority—on par with design and code quality. Instead of being an afterthought or a box-ticking exercise, security becomes an integral part of the entire design and development process. This deeper integration results in stronger, more resilient products, reducing the risk of costly breaches and the associated financial and reputational damage. For customers, it means enhanced protection of their data and privacy, fostering greater confidence and loyalty toward brands that prioritise security. In short, it’s a win for everyone—but it requires a hard-fought effort, with teams needing to give security the time and respect it deserves.

The challenge, as always when time and budgets are tight, is knowing how to get started. And that’s exactly why we built Perceptive.

Want to give it a try? Join the waitlist. We’re sending out beta invites daily.