diff --git a/src/skillspector/artifacts.py b/src/skillspector/artifacts.py
index 0d44476e7..e6e6008cb 100644
--- a/src/skillspector/artifacts.py
+++ b/src/skillspector/artifacts.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 import re
 import unicodedata
 from array import array
+from collections import OrderedDict
 from collections.abc import Callable, Iterator
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from enum import StrEnum
@@ -282,9 +283,13 @@ class _ObfuscatedIgnoreState:
 )
 _DEFAULT_IGNORABLE_RUN_PATTERN = re.compile(_DEFAULT_IGNORABLE_PATTERN.pattern + "+")
 _REPEATED_CHARACTER_RUN_PATTERN = re.compile(r"(.)\1+")
-_ASCII_CONFUSABLE_PATTERN = re.compile(
-    "[" + "".join(re.escape(chr(codepoint)) for codepoint in ASCII_CONFUSABLE_SKELETON) + "]"
-)
+# Membership in a 1,515-code-point class, asked as "does this text contain any".
+# As a regex character class that costs a bounded scan per character against 528
+# disjoint ranges; as a set it is one C-level pass building the text's distinct
+# characters. On 180 KB of ASCII prose the set form is ~230x faster, and the
+# class contains no ASCII code point at all, so ordinary text answers with a
+# single disjointness check.
+_ASCII_CONFUSABLE_CHARS = frozenset(chr(codepoint) for codepoint in ASCII_CONFUSABLE_SKELETON)
 _OBFUSCATED_INSTRUCTION_ACTIONS = (
     "ignore",
     "override",
@@ -464,11 +469,40 @@ def _letter_spacing_gap_signature(gap: str) -> tuple[str, str] | None:
     return ("marked", marker[0])
 
 
+@lru_cache(maxsize=_TEXT_PREDICATE_CACHE_SIZE)
+def _letter_spacing_run_spans_cached(
+    text: str, require_consistent_separator_class: bool
+) -> tuple[tuple[int, int], ...]:
+    """Materialize the spans once per text so repeat callers reuse them."""
+    return tuple(
+        _letter_spacing_run_spans_uncached(
+            text, require_consistent_separator_class=require_consistent_separator_class
+        )
+    )
+
+
 def _letter_spacing_run_spans(
     text: str,
     check_runtime: Callable[[], None] | None = None,
     *,
     require_consistent_separator_class: bool = True,
+) -> Iterator[tuple[int, int]]:
+    """Yield maximal runs of six or more separator-delimited single letters."""
+    if check_runtime is None:
+        yield from _letter_spacing_run_spans_cached(text, require_consistent_separator_class)
+        return
+    yield from _letter_spacing_run_spans_uncached(
+        text,
+        check_runtime,
+        require_consistent_separator_class=require_consistent_separator_class,
+    )
+
+
+def _letter_spacing_run_spans_uncached(
+    text: str,
+    check_runtime: Callable[[], None] | None = None,
+    *,
+    require_consistent_separator_class: bool = True,
 ) -> Iterator[tuple[int, int]]:
     """Yield maximal runs of six or more separator-delimited single letters."""
     if check_runtime is not None:
@@ -1524,6 +1558,13 @@ def _compute_token_gap_character(ch: str) -> bool:
 # ASCII character outside this class is settled by the table above, so a text
 # built only from them has no gap spans and the per-character walk below is
 # pure overhead.
+# Every token-gap character lies outside printable ASCII and the three ASCII
+# whitespace characters, so the next candidate position can be found in C rather
+# than by stepping through the text one character at a time in Python. The class
+# is a deliberate superset -- an accented letter matches it but is not a gap
+# character -- so each hit is still confirmed by the exact predicate below.
+_TOKEN_GAP_SEEK = re.compile(r"[^\t\n\r\x20-\x7e]")
+
 _TOKEN_GAP_CANDIDATE = re.compile(
     "[^"
     + "".join(re.escape(ch) for ch in map(chr, range(128)) if ch not in _ASCII_TOKEN_GAP_CHARS)
@@ -1537,6 +1578,21 @@ def _is_token_gap_character(ch: str) -> bool:
     return _compute_token_gap_character(ch)
 
 
+_RUNTIME_CHECKPOINT_STRIDE = 4096
+
+
+def _check_skipped_checkpoints(check_runtime: Callable[[], None], start: int, end: int) -> None:
+    """Run the cooperative checks a character-by-character walk would have run.
+
+    Seeking jumps straight to the next candidate, so the ``offset % 4096``
+    checkpoints between ``start`` and ``end`` would otherwise never fire and a
+    long scan could not be cancelled. Invoke one per checkpoint crossed, which
+    matches the cadence of the walk it replaces.
+    """
+    for _ in range(start // _RUNTIME_CHECKPOINT_STRIDE + 1, end // _RUNTIME_CHECKPOINT_STRIDE + 1):
+        check_runtime()
+
+
 def _token_bridging_gap_spans(
     text: str,
     *,
@@ -1545,11 +1601,21 @@ def _token_bridging_gap_spans(
 ) -> Iterator[tuple[int, int]]:
     """Yield contextual noise runs in one pass without crossing ASCII spaces."""
     if _TOKEN_GAP_CANDIDATE.search(text) is None:
+        if check_runtime is not None:
+            _check_skipped_checkpoints(check_runtime, 0, len(text))
         return
     offset = 0
     while offset < len(text):
         if check_runtime is not None and offset % 4096 == 0:
             check_runtime()
+        seek = _TOKEN_GAP_SEEK.search(text, offset)
+        if seek is None:
+            if check_runtime is not None:
+                _check_skipped_checkpoints(check_runtime, offset, len(text))
+            return
+        if check_runtime is not None:
+            _check_skipped_checkpoints(check_runtime, offset, seek.start())
+        offset = seek.start()
         if not _is_token_gap_character(text[offset]):
             offset += 1
             continue
@@ -1703,8 +1769,93 @@ def _next_offset(offsets: Iterator[int]) -> int | None:
     return next(offsets, None)
 
 
+# Derived views can be far larger than their input, so this cache is bounded by
+# stored characters rather than entries. The budget is a few files' worth of
+# expanded text -- enough for the analyzers that revisit one file, small enough
+# that a long-lived scanner process cannot accumulate.
+_DERIVED_VIEW_CACHE_BUDGET_CHARS = 4_000_000
+
+
+class _SizeBoundedViewCache:
+    """A small insertion-ordered cache bounded by total stored characters."""
+
+    def __init__(self, budget: int) -> None:
+        self._budget = budget
+        self._entries: OrderedDict[str, SecurityTextView] = OrderedDict()
+        self._sizes: dict[str, int] = {}
+        self._total = 0
+
+    def get(self, key: str) -> SecurityTextView | None:
+        view = self._entries.get(key)
+        if view is not None:
+            self._entries.move_to_end(key)
+        return view
+
+    def store(self, key: str, view: SecurityTextView, size: int) -> None:
+        if size > self._budget:
+            # A single view larger than the whole budget is never worth keeping.
+            return
+        if key in self._entries:
+            return
+        self._entries[key] = view
+        self._sizes[key] = size
+        self._total += size
+        while self._total > self._budget and self._entries:
+            evicted, _ = self._entries.popitem(last=False)
+            self._total -= self._sizes.pop(evicted, 0)
+
+    def clear(self) -> None:
+        self._entries.clear()
+        self._sizes.clear()
+        self._total = 0
+
+    @property
+    def stored_chars(self) -> int:
+        return self._total
+
+
+_NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE = _SizeBoundedViewCache(_DERIVED_VIEW_CACHE_BUDGET_CHARS)
+
+
+def clear_security_text_caches() -> None:
+    """Release every memoized security-text derivation.
+
+    Called from scan teardown so a long-lived scanner process does not retain a
+    scanned file's content -- the derived views, and the text keys the predicate
+    caches hold -- after the scan that produced it has finished.
+    """
+    _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.clear()
+    for cached in (
+        _has_letter_spacing_run,
+        _has_obfuscated_instruction,
+        _requires_normalized_security_view,
+        _letter_spacing_run_spans_cached,
+    ):
+        cached.cache_clear()
+
+
 def normalized_security_view(text: str) -> SecurityTextView:
-    """Build an NFKC/UTS #39 ASCII-skeleton view with compact offsets."""
+    """Build an NFKC/UTS #39 ASCII-skeleton view with compact offsets.
+
+    Memoized, because every analyzer reaches this with the same file content.
+    The view is a frozen dataclass and its ``source_offsets`` array is only ever
+    read -- sliced, or copied into a fresh array -- so callers can share one
+    instance.
+
+    The cache is bounded by the *size* of what it stores rather than by entry
+    count. Normalization can expand its input several-fold -- NFKC turns a
+    single U+FDFA into 18 characters, each carrying a four-byte offset -- so a
+    count-based bound places no limit on retained memory.
+    """
+    cached = _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.get(text)
+    if cached is not None:
+        return cached
+    view = _build_normalized_security_view(text)
+    _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.store(text, view, len(view.text))
+    return view
+
+
+def _build_normalized_security_view(text: str) -> SecurityTextView:
     output = StringIO()
     offsets = array("I")
     contextual_spans = iter(_normalization_ignored_spans(text))
@@ -1987,7 +2138,7 @@ def _requires_normalized_security_view(text: str) -> bool:
         return True
     if not unicodedata.is_normalized("NFKC", text):
         return True
-    if _ASCII_CONFUSABLE_PATTERN.search(text) is not None:
+    if not _ASCII_CONFUSABLE_CHARS.isdisjoint(text):
         return True
     if text.isprintable():
         return False
diff --git a/src/skillspector/cleanup.py b/src/skillspector/cleanup.py
index 493f56c98..bd2b20ff0 100644
--- a/src/skillspector/cleanup.py
+++ b/src/skillspector/cleanup.py
@@ -5,11 +5,13 @@
 
 import shutil
 
+from skillspector.artifacts import clear_security_text_caches
 from skillspector.python_ast import clear_python_ast_cache
 
 
 def cleanup_result(result: dict[str, object]) -> None:
     """Release scan-local resources and remove a temp dir if set."""
+    clear_security_text_caches()
     python_ast_cache_key = result.get("python_ast_cache_key")
     clear_python_ast_cache(python_ast_cache_key if isinstance(python_ast_cache_key, str) else None)
     temp_dir = result.get("temp_dir_for_cleanup")
diff --git a/tests/nodes/analyzers/test_security_scan_fast_paths.py b/tests/nodes/analyzers/test_security_scan_fast_paths.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..347a2687b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/nodes/analyzers/test_security_scan_fast_paths.py
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+"""Equivalence tests for the whole-text fast paths in the security scan.
+
+Three hot paths stop working character by character: the token-gap scan seeks
+the next candidate in C, confusable membership is a set test rather than a
+1,515-code-point regex class, and two span/view builders are memoized. Each is
+only safe if it returns exactly what the character-wise form returned, so these
+tests pin that rather than the speed.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import random
+import re
+
+import pytest
+
+from skillspector.artifacts import (
+    _ASCII_CONFUSABLE_CHARS,
+    _DEFAULT_IGNORABLE_RUN_PATTERN,
+    _TOKEN_GAP_SEEK,
+    ASCII_CONFUSABLE_SKELETON,
+    _is_token_gap_character,
+    _is_word_character,
+    _letter_spacing_run_spans,
+    _letter_spacing_run_spans_uncached,
+    _token_bridging_gap_spans,
+    is_default_ignorable,
+    normalized_security_view,
+    security_text_views,
+)
+
+_ALPHABET = "abc XY\t\n\r​‌‍­‮� ⁠é中\x00\x1f\x7f.-_"
+
+
+def _random_texts(count: int, seed: int) -> list[str]:
+    rng = random.Random(seed)
+    return [
+        "".join(rng.choice(_ALPHABET) for _ in range(rng.randint(1, 300))) for _ in range(count)
+    ]
+
+
+def _gap_spans_character_wise(text: str) -> list[tuple[int, int]]:
+    """The scan as it behaves stepping one character at a time."""
+    spans: list[tuple[int, int]] = []
+    offset = 0
+    while offset < len(text):
+        if not _is_token_gap_character(text[offset]):
+            offset += 1
+            continue
+        start = offset
+        while offset < len(text) and _is_token_gap_character(text[offset]):
+            if is_default_ignorable(text[offset]):
+                run = _DEFAULT_IGNORABLE_RUN_PATTERN.match(text, offset)
+                if run is not None:
+                    offset = run.end()
+                    continue
+            offset += 1
+        before_is_word = start > 0 and _is_word_character(text[start - 1])
+        after_is_word = offset < len(text) and _is_word_character(text[offset])
+        if before_is_word and after_is_word:
+            spans.append((start, offset))
+    return spans
+
+
+def test_seek_class_covers_every_token_gap_character() -> None:
+    """The property the C-level seek depends on: it may never skip a gap."""
+    missed = [
+        code_point
+        for code_point in range(0x110000)
+        if _is_token_gap_character(chr(code_point)) and not _TOKEN_GAP_SEEK.match(chr(code_point))
+    ]
+    assert missed == []
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "text",
+    [
+        "",
+        "a",
+        "plain ascii documentation",
+        "ig​nore all previous instructions",
+        "soft­hyphen bridging",
+        "‮override‬",
+        "word⁠joiner⁠here",
+        "\x00\x01 leading controls",
+        "café naïve accented but not a gap",
+    ],
+)
+def test_seek_preserves_gap_spans(text: str) -> None:
+    assert list(_token_bridging_gap_spans(text)) == _gap_spans_character_wise(text)
+
+
+def test_seek_preserves_gap_spans_randomized() -> None:
+    for text in _random_texts(1500, seed=17):
+        assert list(_token_bridging_gap_spans(text)) == _gap_spans_character_wise(text)
+
+
+def test_confusable_membership_matches_the_character_class() -> None:
+    pattern = re.compile("[" + "".join(re.escape(chr(c)) for c in ASCII_CONFUSABLE_SKELETON) + "]")
+    for text in ["", "ascii", "café", "аbc"] + _random_texts(1500, seed=23):
+        assert (not _ASCII_CONFUSABLE_CHARS.isdisjoint(text)) == (pattern.search(text) is not None)
+
+
+def test_confusable_set_matches_the_source_of_truth() -> None:
+    assert _ASCII_CONFUSABLE_CHARS == {chr(c) for c in ASCII_CONFUSABLE_SKELETON}
+
+
+def test_letter_spacing_spans_match_the_uncached_scan() -> None:
+    for text in [
+        "i g n o r e   a l l",
+        "i-g-n-o-r-e a-l-l",
+        "plain prose",
+    ] + _random_texts(800, seed=31):
+        assert tuple(_letter_spacing_run_spans(text)) == tuple(
+            _letter_spacing_run_spans_uncached(text)
+        )
+
+
+def test_letter_spacing_still_honours_a_runtime_budget() -> None:
+    """A caller passing check_runtime must bypass the cache and be called."""
+    calls = 0
+
+    def check() -> None:
+        nonlocal calls
+        calls += 1
+
+    list(_letter_spacing_run_spans("i g n o r e   a l l", check))
+    assert calls > 0
+
+
+def test_normalized_view_is_stable_across_calls() -> None:
+    for text in ["", "café", "fullｗidth", "ig​nore"]:
+        first = normalized_security_view(text)
+        again = normalized_security_view(text)
+        assert first.text == again.text
+        assert (first.source_offsets is None) == (again.source_offsets is None)
+        if first.source_offsets is not None:
+            assert list(first.source_offsets) == list(again.source_offsets)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "text",
+    ["", "plain", "café naïve", "ig​nore", "i g n o r e   a l l"],
+)
+def test_security_views_unchanged(text: str) -> None:
+    views = security_text_views(text)
+    assert [(v.name, v.text) for v in security_text_views(text)] == [
+        (v.name, v.text) for v in views
+    ]
diff --git a/tests/nodes/analyzers/test_security_scan_runtime_and_memory.py b/tests/nodes/analyzers/test_security_scan_runtime_and_memory.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bf5084b5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/nodes/analyzers/test_security_scan_runtime_and_memory.py
@@ -0,0 +1,117 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+"""Cooperative cancellation and cache-bound tests for the security scan.
+
+Both properties regressed when the scan stopped walking character by character:
+seeking jumps over the periodic checkpoints a walk would hit, and memoizing a
+derived view retains far more than the entry count suggests because
+normalization can expand its input several-fold. These tests pin both.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+from skillspector.artifacts import (
+    _DERIVED_VIEW_CACHE_BUDGET_CHARS,
+    _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE,
+    _RUNTIME_CHECKPOINT_STRIDE,
+    _token_bridging_gap_spans,
+    clear_security_text_caches,
+    normalized_security_view,
+)
+
+
+class _AbortError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def _clear():
+    clear_security_text_caches()
+    yield
+    clear_security_text_caches()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("length", [0, 4095, 4096, 10_000, 32_768, 100_000])
+def test_checkpoint_cadence_matches_a_character_walk(length: int) -> None:
+    """Seeking must fire the checks a character-by-character walk would fire."""
+    fired = 0
+
+    def check() -> None:
+        nonlocal fired
+        fired += 1
+
+    list(_token_bridging_gap_spans("a" * length, check_runtime=check))
+    assert fired == length // _RUNTIME_CHECKPOINT_STRIDE
+
+
+def test_cancellation_is_observed_across_sparse_gaps() -> None:
+    """In-word gaps that yield no spans must still reach the runtime check."""
+    calls = 0
+
+    def check() -> None:
+        nonlocal calls
+        calls += 1
+        if calls >= 2:
+            raise _AbortError
+
+    with pytest.raises(_AbortError):
+        list(_token_bridging_gap_spans("aᅟa " * 8192, check_runtime=check))
+
+
+def test_cancellation_is_observed_on_text_with_no_candidates() -> None:
+    """The whole-string skip must not swallow cancellation either."""
+    calls = 0
+
+    def check() -> None:
+        nonlocal calls
+        calls += 1
+        if calls >= 2:
+            raise _AbortError
+
+    with pytest.raises(_AbortError):
+        list(_token_bridging_gap_spans("a" * 100_000, check_runtime=check))
+
+
+def test_derived_view_cache_is_bounded_by_size_not_entry_count() -> None:
+    """NFKC expands U+FDFA to 18 characters, so entry count bounds nothing."""
+    chunk = "ﷺ" * 4000
+    for index in range(40):
+        normalized_security_view(f"{index} {chunk}")
+    assert _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.stored_chars <= _DERIVED_VIEW_CACHE_BUDGET_CHARS
+
+
+def test_a_single_oversized_view_is_not_retained() -> None:
+    oversized = "ﷺ" * (_DERIVED_VIEW_CACHE_BUDGET_CHARS // 10)
+    normalized_security_view(oversized)
+    assert _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.stored_chars == 0
+
+
+def test_clearing_releases_everything() -> None:
+    normalized_security_view("ﷺ" * 1000)
+    assert _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.stored_chars > 0
+    clear_security_text_caches()
+    assert _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.stored_chars == 0
+
+
+def test_scan_teardown_clears_the_caches() -> None:
+    """cleanup_result is the hook that releases scan-local state."""
+    from skillspector.cleanup import cleanup_result
+
+    normalized_security_view("ﷺ" * 1000)
+    assert _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.stored_chars > 0
+    cleanup_result({})
+    assert _NORMALIZED_VIEW_CACHE.stored_chars == 0
+
+
+def test_eviction_does_not_change_results() -> None:
+    """A view evicted and rebuilt must be identical to the first one."""
+    text = "ﷺ" * 500
+    first = normalized_security_view(text)
+    for index in range(60):
+        normalized_security_view(f"{index} " + "ﷺ" * 4000)
+    rebuilt = normalized_security_view(text)
+    assert rebuilt.text == first.text
+    assert list(rebuilt.source_offsets or []) == list(first.source_offsets or [])