GitHub Code Held 543,699 Working Keys and Passwords and the Oldest Dates Back to 2009

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:01:33 +0200

543,699 keys and passwords sat in public GitHub code and still worked when researchers tested them in July 2026. The oldest went back to 2009. 51.8 percent were types GitHub’s default protection does not block.

Researchers at Truffle Security went through 224 million public GitHub repositories. For each API key, cloud key, database password and token they found in the code, they asked the service that issued it if it still let them in. They did that on 27 and 28 July 2026, and 543,699 of them still worked.

Secrets on HackingPassion.com : root@HackingPassion.com-[~]

GitHub Code Held 543,699 Working Keys and Passwords and the Oldest Dates Back to 2009