Continuous Integration (CI) is a foundational DevOps practice where developers frequently merge their code changes into a shared central repository. Upon each merge, an automated process is triggered to build the software and run a suite of tests. In a cloud security context, these tests include security-specific checks like Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and software composition analysis. This ensures that new code is not only functional but also secure before it is integrated. The primary goal of CI is to detect integration bugs and security vulnerabilities early in the development lifecycle, maintaining a stable and secure codebase.

A. This describes Continuous Monitoring, a practice that occurs in production, after the CI/CD pipeline has completed, to observe application behavior and identify runtime threats.

B. Data encryption is a specific security control. While a CI process can verify that encryption is correctly implemented, it is not the definition or primary role of CI itself.

D. This describes Continuous Deployment or Continuous Delivery (CD), which is the subsequent phase in the pipeline that automates the release of the integrated code to a production environment.

1. Google Cloud Documentation. (n.d.). DevOps tech: Continuous integration. Google Cloud. Retrieved from https://cloud.google.com/devops/tech/continuous-integration.

Reference Section: The introductory paragraph defines CI as "the practice of automating the integration of code changes from multiple contributors into a single software project," and the "What are the benefits of CI?" section highlights early bug detection through automated building and testing.

2. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Documentation. (n.d.). What is Continuous Integration?. AWS. Retrieved from https://aws.amazon.com/devops/continuous-integration/.

Reference Section: The first paragraph states, "Continuous integration is a DevOps software development practice where developers regularly merge their code changes into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run."

3. Humble, J., & Farley, D. (2010). Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation. Addison-Wesley Professional.

Reference Section: Chapter 3, "Continuous Integration," defines CI as a practice that requires automated builds, self-testing builds, and frequent integration by developers, which directly aligns with the core activities described in the correct answer.

4. University of Washington, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. (2019). CSE 403: Software Engineering, Spring 2019, Lecture 21: DevOps.

Reference Section: Slide 11, "Continuous Integration (CI)," defines the process as developers checking in regularly, which triggers an automatic build and automated tests. This material is representative of university-level courseware on the subject.