Maintaining compliance and minimizing security risks has become increasingly complex due to the growing use of distributed cloud infrastructure and third-party dependencies. Regulatory frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 require strict measures to protect customer data and secure networks. However, these regulations are often breached when sensitive data is not properly sanitized during cross-environment data movement or when misconfigured cloud resources leave vulnerabilities open. To address this, organizations can adopt a shift-left approach to compliance by proactively addressing risks earlier in the development cycle through static scanning, policy as code, and runtime detection. This involves redacting sensitive data that travels through non-production environments, identifying infrastructure misconfigurations before they are deployed, analyzing third-party dependencies and source code for vulnerabilities, and using tools like Datadog's Cloud Security Management to detect and remediate issues. By implementing multiple layers of protection and utilizing shift-left practices in combination with runtime detection, organizations can more confidently comply with data protection regulations and reduce critical vulnerabilities that threaten their compliance posture.