As modern software engineering practices embrace faster release cycles and agile development methodologies, ensuring that security keeps pace has become a critical challenge. Traditional security reviews conducted at the end of the development lifecycle are no longer adequate. Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines and “shift-left” principles have given rise to continuous security scanning integrating security checks directly into the build and deployment processes. This approach not only detects vulnerabilities and misconfigurations earlier but also reduces remediation costs and prevents security issues from reaching production. This paper presents a comprehensive guide to designing and operating secure build pipelines with continuous scanning. We explore the architecture of a typical CI/CD pipeline, identify key security integration points, and discuss various scanning tools and techniques for code quality, open-source dependency checks, container image hardening, infrastructure-as-code validation, and runtime security. Through diagrams, best practices, tables, and real-world case studies, we provide actionable guidance on selecting tools, configuring alerts, enforcing policies, and building a security-aware engineering culture. We also highlight the importance of compliance, secure artifact storage, and integration with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems. By adopting a holistic, automated, and continuously monitored pipeline, organizations can deliver software at speed without compromising on security or compliance requirements. Keywords DevSecOps, CI/CD, Continuous Scanning, Secure Build Pipelines, Software Supply Chain, Shift-Left Security, Vulnerability Scanning, Compliance, Container Security
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