secret-scanning

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets such as tokens and private keys. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with Authress to scan for their service client access keys and their user API tokens to help secure our mutual users in public repositories. Authress access keys allow users to secure applications and platforms through machine-to-machine authentication and they enable granular resource-based authorization. GitHub will forward any exposed access keys found in public repositories to Authress, who will automatically revoke the exposed access key, create an audit trail message that can be ingested by SIEM technologies, and send an email alert to your Authress account admin. Read more information about Authress API access keys.

All users can scan for and block Authress keys from entering their public repositories for free with push protection. GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for and block Authress keys in their private repositories.

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets such as tokens and private keys. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with Mercury to scan for their license keys and help secure our mutual users on public repositories. Mercury tokens allow users to automate your banking needs through their API. GitHub will forward tokens found in public repositories to Mercury, who will then revoke them, keeping your account safe. Read more information about Mercury tokens.

All users can scan for and block Mercury tokens from entering their public repositories for free with push protection. GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for and block Mercury tokens in their private repositories.

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GitHub Advanced Security customers that have validity checks enabled for secret scanning will see the validation status for the following Discord tokens:

  • discord_api_token_v2
  • discord_bot_token

View our supported secrets documentation to keep up to date as we expand validation support.

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets such as tokens and private keys. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with MaxMind to scan for their license keys and help secure our mutual users on public repositories. MaxMind keys allow users to run queries against minFraud®, GeoIP®, and GeoLite services, and download GeoIP and GeoLite databases. GitHub will forward license keys found in public repositories to MaxMind, who will then email the user about the leaked key. You can read more information about MaxMind keys here.

All users can scan for and block MaxMind keys from entering their public repositories for free with push protection. GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for and block MaxMind keys in their private repositories.

Learn more about secret scanning
Partner with GitHub on secret scanning

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with Pinterest to scan for their API tokens and help secure our mutual users on public repositories. Pinterest tokens allow developers to interact with Pinterest's API in order to build experiences and apps for creators, advertisers, merchants and users on top of Pinterest. GitHub will forward access tokens found in public repositories to Pinterest, which will then notify the user about the leaked token. You can read more information about Pinterest tokens here.

All users can scan for and block Pinterest's tokens from entering their public repositories for free with push protection. GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for and block Pinterest tokens in their private repositories.

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GitHub Advanced Security customers that have validity checks enabled will see the validation status for select AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Slack tokens on the alert.

The following tokens are supported:

  • aws_access_key_id
  • aws_secret_access_key
  • aws_session_token
  • aws_temporary_access_key_id
  • aws_secret_access_key
  • google_oauth_access_token
  • google_api_key
  • nuget_api_key
  • slack_api_token

AWS tokens will have validation checks performed periodically in the background, with on-demand validity checks to come in the future.

View our supported secrets documentation to keep up to date as we expand validation support.

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The enterprise and organization level audit logs now record an event when the setting for automatic validity checks for secrets is enabled or disabled. This data helps GitHub Advanced Security customers understand actions taken on their secret scanning alerts for security and compliance audits.

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Users with secret scanning enabled on their free public repositories will now receive alerts for any potential secrets exposed in an issue’s title, description, or comments, including historical revisions. Alerts can be viewed within the UI or the REST API.

New issues are being scanned starting today and existing issues will be scanned over the coming weeks. You can expect all public repositories to be fully scanned by September 1, 2023.

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GitHub Advanced Security customers can now perform on-demand validity checks for supported partner patterns, and the alert index view now shows if a secret is active. This builds on our release of enabling automatic validation checks for supported partner patterns back in April.

When the “Automatically verify if a secret is valid” setting is enabled on a repository, users will see a “Verify secret” button on the alert page. This sends the secret to our relevant partner provider to see if the secret is active and updates the status on the alert and index pages.

screenshot of an adafruit io key alert with a verify secret button

As we work with our partners to add support for more secrets, we'll update the "Validity check" column in the documented supported secrets list.

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Secret scanning's push protection feature prevents supported secrets from being pushed into repositories, and has to date been enabled at the repository, organization, or enterprise level.

Now, everyone across GitHub can enable push protection for themselves within your individual settings. This ensures your pushes are protected whenever you push to a public repository on GitHub, without relying on that repository to have push protection enabled.

To opt in, go to the "Code security and analysis" section of your personal settings. Next to "Push protection for yourself", click Enable.

GitHub will enable push protection for all GitHub Free individuals by default in January, 2024.

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Organization owners and security managers can now view metrics associated with push protection usage across their organization.

The overview shows a summary of how many pushes containing secrets have been successfully blocked across the organization by push protection, as well as how many times push protection was bypassed.

You can also find more granular metrics, including:

  • the secret types that have been blocked or bypassed the most
  • the repositories that have had the most pushes blocked
  • the repositories that are bypassing push protection the most
  • the percentage distribution of reasons that users give when they bypass the protection

These metrics are found under the Security tab of your organization and are based on activity from the last 30 days.

screenshot of push protection metrics, showing overall secrets blocked and details on most blocked types, repositories with most pushes blocked, and bypassed secret metrics

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with Defined to scan for their tokens and help secure our mutual users on public repositories. Defined tokens allow users to access various administrative functions of their managed mesh networking offerings. GitHub will forward access tokens found in public repositories to Defined, which will then email the user. You can read more information about Defined's tokens here.

All users can scan for and block Defined's tokens from entering their public repositories for free with push protection. GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for and block Defined tokens in their private repositories.

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GitHub secret scanning protects users by searching repositories for known types of secrets. By identifying and flagging these secrets, our scans help prevent data leaks and fraud.

We have partnered with Workato to scan for their API tokens and help secure our mutual users on public repositories. Workato Developer API tokens allow users to effectively manage their Workato workspaces programmatically and reduce administrative overhead as they onboard teams from across their organisation. GitHub will forward access tokens found in public repositories to Workato, which will then notify the user about the leaked token. You can read more information about Workato's tokens here.

All users can scan for and block Workato's tokens from entering their public repositories for free with push protection. GitHub Advanced Security customers can also scan for and block Workato tokens in their private repositories.

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All eligible GitHub Enterprise accounts can now try GitHub Advanced Security for free for 14 days. GitHub Advanced Security provides integrated security with unparalleled access to curated security intelligence. This unlocks your ability to keep your code, supply chain, and secrets secure before pushing the code to production. During the trial, you can try features such as:

  • Code scanning to help find and remediate security issues in your code
  • Secret scanning to prevent and detect secret exposures across your organization
  • Dependency review to catch vulnerable dependencies before introducing them to your environment

Explore our documentation to learn more about GitHub Advanced Security features and how to deploy them in your organization.
GitHub Advanced Security on Enterprise Cloud

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