What feature does GitLab provide to ensure built-in security during development?

Automated code scanning is a key feature in GitLab that enhances security during the development process. It allows developers to analyze their code for vulnerabilities and security issues automatically. This feature scans the codebase for known security vulnerabilities, ensuring that developers identify potential security risks before the code is deployed. By integrating automated code scanning into the CI/CD pipeline, organizations can maintain higher standards of security compliance, catch issues early in the development lifecycle, and reduce the risk of security vulnerabilities in production environments.

Automated scans provide consistent results and can be run regularly, allowing teams to keep track of new vulnerabilities as they arise and ensuring that security considerations are part of the development workflow. This proactive approach contributes to a more secure software development lifecycle, making it an essential tool for developers looking to create secure applications.

The other options, while related to development processes, do not specifically focus on the automation of analyzing code for security vulnerabilities in the same comprehensive manner as automated code scanning.