@RequestMapping(value = "/simple", method = RequestMethod.POST)
@ResponseBody
@Transactional
@Preauthorize(...)
public String simple(){
   //collect the user's current details from the getPrinciple() and complete the transaction...
    Object principal = SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication().getPrincipal();
    return "Simple";
}

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:security="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/security
http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-3.2.xsd">

    <security:global-method-security
        secured-annotations="enabled" />

    <security:http pattern="/**"
        auto-config="true" disable-url-rewriting="true" use-expressions="true">
        <security:custom-filter ref="authenticationTokenProcessingFilter"
            position="FORM_LOGIN_FILTER" />
        <security:intercept-url pattern="/authenticate"
            access="permitAll" />
        <security:intercept-url pattern="/secure/**"
            access="isAuthenticated()" />
    </security:http>

    <bean id="CustomAuthenticationEntryPoint" class="org.foo.CustomAuthenticationEntryPoint" />

    <bean class="org.foo.AuthenticationTokenProcessingFilter" id="authenticationTokenProcessingFilter">
        <constructor-arg ref="authenticationManager" />
    </bean>

</beans>

@Bean
    public ApplicationSecurity applicationSecurity() {
        return new ApplicationSecurity();
    }

    @Order(Ordered.LOWEST_PRECEDENCE - 8)
    protected static class ApplicationSecurity extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
        @Override
        protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
            // this is obviously for a simple "login page" not a custom filter!
http.authorizeRequests().anyRequest().fullyAuthenticated().and().formLogin()
                        .loginPage("/login").failureUrl("/login?error").permitAll();
            }
        }

**@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity**

import javax.servlet.Filter;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Qualifier;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.method.configuration.EnableGlobalMethodSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.builders.HttpSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter;
import org.springframework.security.web.AuthenticationEntryPoint;
import org.springframework.security.web.authentication.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter;

@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(securedEnabled=true) //<security:global-method-security secured-annotations="enabled" />
public class ApplicationSecurity extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

    @Autowired
    @Qualifier("authenticationTokenProcessingFilter")
    private Filter authenticationTokenProcessingFilter;

    @Autowired
    private AuthenticationEntryPoint entryPoint;

    @Override
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http.exceptionHandling().authenticationEntryPoint(entryPoint);


        http //auto-config="true"
            .authorizeRequests()
                .anyRequest().authenticated()
                .and()
            .formLogin()
                .and()
            .httpBasic();


        http
            .authorizeRequests() // use-expressions="true"
            .antMatchers("/authenticate").permitAll() //<security:intercept-url pattern="/authenticate" access="permitAll" />
            .antMatchers("/secure/**").authenticated() //<security:intercept-url pattern="/secure/**"            access="isAuthenticated()" />
            .and()
            .addFilterBefore(authenticationTokenProcessingFilter, UsernamePasswordAuthenticationFilter.class) // <security:custom-filter ref="authenticationTokenProcessingFilter" position="FORM_LOGIN_FILTER" /> http://docs.spring.io/spring-security/site/docs/3.0.x/reference/ns-config.html
            ;
    }
}