In my opinion, while every stage in a DevSecOps pipeline plays an important role, the most critical ones are the coding, build, and testing phases because that’s where most vulnerabilities can be caught early before they become costly or risky in production. During coding, practices like secure coding standards and peer reviews help prevent issues from being introduced in the first place, while the build stage is key for integrating automated security tools like dependency scanning and static code analysis. The testing phase further strengthens security through dynamic testing and vulnerability assessments in a controlled environment. That said, security shouldn’t stop there—continuous monitoring after deployment is equally important to detect new threats or misconfigurations in real time. To ensure security is effectively maintained throughout, organizations need to automate as much as possible, integrate security tools seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines, and foster a culture where developers, operations, and security teams share responsibility rather than treating security as a separate step.