Continuous Integration (CI) is the practice of automatically building and testing software whenever developers change code. CI systems run configured workflows—often on hosted or self-managed runners—to check changes and report failures before software is released.
CI matters to cybersecurity because workflows can access source code, deployment systems, and credentials such as tokens or cloud keys. Attackers who gain access to an account or influence a workflow may try to misuse that access or expose secrets. Defenders should treat CI as a privileged environment: limit workflow permissions, protect accounts, avoid exposing secrets to untrusted code, and rotate credentials if exposure is suspected.