About the SecAppDev Academy

Origins of the SecAppDev Academy

The SecAppDev Academy traces its roots to the annual SecAppDev course, a week-long immersive program in secure application development. Established in 2005 by Dirk Dussart and Johan Peeters, the course was born from a shared concern over the lack of adequate software security practices in the industry. Under the leadership of Philippe De Ryck, SecAppDev has grown into an internationally acclaimed event, attracting world-class instructors and participants from around the globe. You can learn more about the course at secappdev.org.

Years ago, we experimented with recording live SecAppDev lectures, but found it interfered with the immersive classroom experience. After a hiatus, we revisited the idea with a new approach: dedicated recording sessions. In 2024, with support from Erasmus Hogeschool Brussels, we recorded four lectures in a professional setup. The results were excellent, prompting us to integrate the recording as a dedicated track into the SecAppDev program.

Our Approach

The SecAppDev Academy focuses on practical, real-world security practices that developers can apply immediately. We publish selected resources from the SecAppDev course, including handouts, summary blog posts, and recordings of key lectures. These materials are designed to complement the in-person experience and provide lasting value to the broader community of security practitioners.

We aim to deliver this content in a way that respects your privacy. The site is built to be fast, accessible, and privacy-friendly, without intrusive tracking. We do not load remote assets from third-party CDNs and instead host all resources locally to minimize unnecessary data exposure. Our recorded lectures are streamed using Ignite Video Experience Cloud, a German video hosting platform that prioritizes user privacy and digital sustainability. Ignite delivers cookie-free, GDPR-compliant playback without banners or tracking, aligning with our mission to make high-quality security education broadly accessible—without compromising user trust.

How We Run the Academy

The Academy runs as a static site built with Eleventy, keeping the infrastructure simple, lightweight, and easy to maintain. All source content is versioned and maintained through GitHub , from where the site auto-deploys when changes are made to the main branch.

We host the site on Netlify, which provides reliable and fast deployment globally. Our video content is delivered via the Ignite Video Cloud Experience, a privacy-first European platform offering GDPR-compliant, cookie-free video playback without tracking or consent banners.

We are grateful to both GitHub and Ignite for supporting the SecAppDev Academy through special arrangements for non-profit organizations. Their contributions help us share trusted knowledge with the global development community in a respectful and sustainable way.