What does “collaborate with engineering” actually mean in AppSec? ⎜Koen Hendrix (Zendesk)

Welcome to the Elephant in AppSec, the podcast to explore, challenge, and boldly face the AppSec Elephants in the room. Today, I’m joined by Koen Hendrix, Director of Product Security at Zendesk. With over a decade of experience in the tech and gaming industries, Koen has been instrumental in building and scaling global security teams, integrating security into agile environments, and driving innovation in product security processes. Known for fostering strong relationships with global Product and Engineering leaders, he brings a wealth of expertise to today’s conversation. In this episode we discuss why non-negotiable security practices must be clearly communicated to teams and where Koen thinks we need to draw the line between "secure enough" and "perfect security". We also explore how change management has become a significant challenge in security and discuss why implementing secure-by-design principles requires gradual, step-by-step improvements. If you agree with Koen’s perspective that collaboration is often overlooked in favor of tools and want to learn how to implement it effectively—this episode is for you!