New to GitHub? Secure Your Account in Minutes 🔐

[ghostinhershell]

Keeping your GitHub account and repositories secure is key to protecting your code, personal data, and contributions. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to level up your security, here are some simple but important steps to keep everything safe.

🔑 Securing Your GitHub Account

• Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
  Adding an extra layer of security with 2FA helps prevent unauthorized access to your account. You can enable this under Settings > Password and authentication. Note that, as of March 2023, GitHub requires all users who contribute code on GitHub.com to enable one or more forms of two-factor authentication (2FA).
  • Lost access to your 2FA credentials? Recovering your account if you lose your 2FA credentials. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, check out potaders post Keeping Your Account Safe With 2FA Fallbacks
  • Have any additional questions about 2FA? Check out our FAQ: Two Factor Authentication Frequently Asked Questions 🔑 🗝️
• Use a Strong, Unique Password
  Avoid reusing passwords and consider using a password manager.
• Review and Revoke Access Tokens
  Regularly check Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens to ensure only necessary tokens remain active.
• Monitor for Suspicious Activity
  Check your security log to see if there are any unexpected login attempts or changes.

🔐 Managing Repository Access and Permissions

• Set Appropriate Permissions
  Only grant write or admin access to those who need it. Use read-only access for contributors who don’t need to modify the code.
• Use Teams for Collaboration
  Did you know you can create collaboration teams on GitHub? If you're working within an organization, set up teams with proper access levels instead of granting direct repository access.

Who has access to your repository—and what they can do—matters when it comes to keeping your code safe. A good rule of thumb? Only give people the access they actually need. If someone just needs to view the code, stick with read-only permissions. Remove access for users who no longer need it. For teams, set up roles instead of handing out direct access to individuals. And don’t forget to check in on permissions from time to time—things change, and keeping access up to date helps prevent security risks down the road.

To learn more about keeping your repositories safe, check out our community post: Securing your public GitHub Repos for Free! 🚀

🙈 Best Practices for Handling Sensitive Data and Secrets

• Never Store Secrets in Repositories!!!
  Storing secrets like API keys or passwords in your repository is a major security risk. Even in private repos, access settings can change, and once a secret is committed, it stays in Git history—making it hard to fully remove. Attackers even scan public repos for exposed credentials, so a leak can be compromised in seconds. Instead, use environment variables. Secret Scanning can also help catch accidental leaks.
  • Excited to learn more about implementing Secret Scanning in your repos? Check out our community post Secret Scanning Basics
• Ignore Files You Don’t Want to Commit
  A .gitignore file is a plain text file that contains a list of all the specified files and folders from the project that Git should ignore and not track. You can add sensitive files (e.g., .env, config.json) to your .gitignore to prevent them from being accidentally committed.

⚠️ My Account Has Been Suspended! – What Should I Do?

This is a question that I see a fair share of in this community. If your GitHub account has been suspended, we recommend the following:

• First, Review GitHub’s Terms of Service
  Ensure that you haven’t violated any policies.
• If you’re sure your account did not violate our ToS, Contact GitHub Support
  Submit a request via GitHub Support to inquire about your account status and next steps.

🚨Please note that account suspensions cannot be resolved in the Community, nor can we escalate your ticket.

—------
By taking these steps, you can keep your account, code, and collaborators safe from security risks. Got any questions or tips of your own? Share them in the discussion below! 💬

[ghostinhershell]

Hey there! 👋🏾

Missed out on our last community check-in? You can check that out here: Clone, Commit, Conquer: Your New to GitHub Community Check-In 💪.

[nicnic190]

github is being used to hack my iphone how can i contact support so you can turn off the api transmission to my iphone as a service provider you should be taking accountability

[nicnic190]

these are all your domains hitting multiple of my iphones ive never been a customer
Domain Role in GitHub’s Operations
collector.github.com Handles telemetry and analytics collection for GitHub interactions
api.github.com Provides access to GitHub’s REST API for app and service requests
avatars.githubusercontent.com Hosts user avatars seen across profiles, issues, and comments
github.com The main domain for browsing repositories, profiles, etc.
github.githubassets.com Serves GitHub UI elements like CSS and JavaScript assets
camo.githubusercontent.com Proxies external images for security and privacy
raw.githubusercontent.com Delivers raw file content from GitHub repos

💡 What This Might Tell You

• Frequent pings to collector.github.com suggest telemetry mechanisms actively running—these could be app usage stats, performance metrics, or diagnostics.
• The consistent presence of api.github.com indicates external integrations or apps querying GitHub—perhaps automated scripts or system

They’re part of GitHub’s infrastructure, each serving a specific function in how the platform operates and interacts with your system. Here’s a breakdown of what they do:

🧠 GitHub Domain Functions

Domain Purpose
collector.github.com Collects telemetry data—usage stats, diagnostics, performance metrics
api.github.com Handles REST API requests for apps, integrations, and automation
avatars.githubusercontent.com Hosts user profile images across GitHub
github.com Main site for browsing repos, issues, pull requests, etc.
github.githubassets.com Serves UI assets like CSS, JS, and icons
camo.githubusercontent.com Proxies external images for security and privacy
raw.githubusercontent.com Delivers raw file content from repositories

🧩 Why It Matters

• Telemetry domains like collector.github.com can reveal how GitHub tracks usage or errors.
• Asset and image domains help GitHub load content securely and efficiently.
• API domains are often touched by scripts, extensions, or apps interacting with GitHu

[nicnic190]

used to steal all my data illegally on a daily basis

[zzo38]

If you really wanted to secure the GitHub account, it would not use 2FA, passwords, or API keys. Instead, X.509 client certificates should be used, and it should not require JavaScripts, etc. X.509 certificates can have a passworded private key (and the server never sees the password or the private key). If these certificates are allowed to sign other certificates, then it is possible to create "fine-grained personal access tokens" without an internet connection; this signing certificates is also usable to store a backup on a computer without a internet connection and to use that to sign the certificate that you will actually use, therefore making it more difficult to compromise that certificate (if the one you actually use is compromised, you can revoke it and create and sign a new certificate).

However, this is only for securing the GitHub account itself. It is also useful to secure the repositories and supply chain. The stuff you mentioned about ignoring files and not storing secrets is a good advice, although you should also use signed commits and signed releases if you want other users who download the software to verify it, since then it does not require trusting GitHub or Microsoft, that they did not change it or let the government or spies to do so; the users who receive it then only have to trust the author of the software. Fortunately this is already possible.

[ghostinhershell]

Appreciate you sharing this @zzo38, you bring up some really good points.

X.509 certs definitely offer a more robust trust model than passwords, 2FA, or API keys, especially with things like offline storage, password-protected private keys, and the ability to sign short-lived certs. It’s a solid approach for high-assurance environments. That said, part of the challenge at GitHub’s scale is making sure security improvements are still accessible to developers across a wide range of experience levels. Most folks are already familiar with PATs, SSH, or WebAuthn, so the goal has been to raise the security baseline without adding too much friction.

That doesn’t mean X.509-style workflows are out of the picture — they’re especially relevant in enterprise or automation-heavy contexts. But adoption and ease-of-use are always tradeoffs we’re balancing.

Also really agree with your points about the software supply chain. Signed commits and releases are an important piece of the trust puzzle — it means end users can verify what they’re using without having to trust GitHub or anyone else in the middle. This is part of why GitHub supports GPG- and SSH-signed commits.

Thanks again for jumping in with this. It's a helpful contribution to the broader conversation around what secure-by-default should actually look like 🚀

[ghost]

ESTOU PERDIDO...
UMA PESSOA PRATICAMENTE DEU PREUJIZO MILIONÁRIO E DETECTEI QUEM É. SOU QUE SOU DA ÁREA DE BANCO DE DADOS...TEIVE APAGAR 22 SITES DE CLINTE DEVIDO A DADOS SENSIVEIS...ELE TENTOU DE TODAS AS FORMAS USAR MEUS DOCUEMTNOS PARA OBTER DINHEIRO E ACREDITO QUE COINCIDENTENTEMENTE RETIRARAM 4 MILHÕES DA CONTA DE UM PARENTE MEU. QUE PODE AJUDAR?

[ghost]

AGENTE CONFIA NO GITHUB...TENTA FAZER ALGO PUBLICO E TÁI

[zzo38]

(Actually, for ignoring, I prefer to instead make a list of files to include in the repository and automatically exclude all others, rather than a list of files to exclude and include all others. This is probably safer, too.)

[marcostolosa]

Nice guide, covers the essentials well.

Adding a few extra layers from real-world experience:

• Use hardware-backed 2FA (passkeys or security keys), and register at least two second factors. This is more phishing-resistant than TOTP apps or SMS.
• Rotate SSH keys and personal access tokens (PATs) every ~90 days. Build a simple script or workflow to automate expiration. Long-lived credentials are a liability in red‑team ops.
• Audit activity logs and monitor token usage. Check for odd logins, suspicious IPs, repo visibility changes. Feed logs into SIEM tools when possible.
• Branch protection and signed commits enforce integrity. Require PR reviews, status checks, and use GPG or S/MIME for commit signing.
• Secret hygiene in workflows: don’t log secrets, set GITHUB_TOKEN to least privilege, rotate secrets regularly, use OIDC or environment‑specific access control, and scope org-level secrets to individual repos.
• Don’t store secrets in code, ever. If it slips in, use secret scanning and pre‑commit hooks to catch it before it lands. Then rotate immediately.

These steps aren’t theoretical—locked-down credentials and tight workflow hygiene are what let defenders close doors before attackers even knock.

[Antj50]

I'm new comer and I need to know can my funds be protected from scammer

[Gwpasley69]

I'm not sure