A compromised pipeline is every environment it deploys to.
Every prior chapter trusted the pipeline to deliver code safely. This chapter asks what stops the pipeline itself from being the attack.
Compromised dependency
Injects malicious code during build
Stolen deploy credential
Bypasses the pipeline entirely
Tampered image
Swaps a digest before deploy
Each attack targets a DIFFERENT stage — exactly why this chapter's defenses are layered, not a single control. A build-only defense does nothing against a stolen deploy credential.