Github DLP

Detect and Remediate the risk of exposing secrets and credentials

Table of Contents

TL;DR:

Seamless Integration: Integrate with GitHub in minutes, without installing agents.
Comprehensive Detection: Identify sensitive data across 100+ file types using machine-learning detectors.
Real-Time Alerts: Receive instant alerts for detected sensitive data and set up automated remediation actions.
Centralized Management: Manage all security tasks from a single dashboard with customizable DLP policies.
User Education: Educate and empower users to foster a culture of strong data security hygiene.

In today's fast-paced development environment, GitHub has become an indispensable tool for product and engineering teams. However, with its extensive use comes the increased risk of inadvertently exposing sensitive data, such as credentials, secrets, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and Protected Health Information (PHI). Strac's Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution for GitHub is designed to address these challenges, ensuring your repositories are secure and compliant with industry regulations.

Why Implementing GitHub DLP is Essential for Your Code Repositories

Safeguarding Sensitive Data to Prevent Unauthorized Access

GitHub repositories often contain sensitive information that, if exposed, can lead to significant security breaches. These breaches can compromise your customer data, intellectual property, and internal communications. By implementing a robust DLP solution, you can proactively detect and remediate these risks, protecting your organization's valuable assets.

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance Through GitHub DLP

With regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA becoming more stringent, compliance is a top priority for organizations. A DLP solution for GitHub helps ensure that your repositories adhere to these regulations by automatically identifying and managing sensitive data, reducing the risk of non-compliance and potential fines.

Reducing Risks of Data Breaches Caused by Human Mistakes

Even the most diligent developers can accidentally commit sensitive information. A DLP solution provides an additional layer of protection, scanning code for sensitive data and preventing it from being exposed in the first place. This minimizes the risk of human error and helps maintain a secure development environment.

Discover How Strac Enhances Your GitHub DLP Strategy

Effortlessly Integrating Strac for Enhanced Data Protection

Strac's GitHub DLP integrates seamlessly with your existing workflow. With just a few clicks, you can set up the integration and start protecting your repositories. There's no need to install any agents, and the solution works in the background, providing continuous protection without disrupting your team's productivity.

Advanced Detection and Classification Features for GitHub DLP

Strac utilizes machine learning-based detectors to identify sensitive data across 100+ file types, including images and unstructured data. These detectors are trained to recognize a wide range of sensitive information, such as PII, PCI, PHI, credentials, and secrets. By leveraging context-based ML detectors, Strac ensures high accuracy and minimizes false positives.

Immediate Alerts and Automated Actions for Data Leak Prevention

Strac provides real-time alerts for any detected sensitive data, allowing you to take immediate action. Automated remediation workflows can be set up to quarantine, delete, or alert on sensitive findings, reducing the compliance workload and enabling proactive protection. Notifications and coaching can also be provided to end-users, educating them on data security best practices and fostering a culture of strong data security hygiene.

Streamlined Management with Centralized Dashboard and Policies

With Strac, you can manage all your security tasks from a single, intuitive dashboard. Create flexible DLP policies for targeted scans and customize detectors with thresholds and rules to meet your organization's specific needs. The centralized dashboard provides visibility into security risks, enabling you to minimize them effectively and ensure continuous compliance.

Empowering Users with Education on GitHub DLP Best Practices

Strac's GitHub DLP solution goes beyond mere detection and remediation. By educating users on data security best practices and involving them in the remediation process, you can build a strong first line of defense against security threats. This not only enhances security but also empowers your team to take an active role in protecting sensitive data.ni

Sensitive Data Types for Github DLP

Checkout all the sensitive data elements and file formats supported by Strac: https://www.strac.io/blog/strac-catalog-of-sensitive-data-elements

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Sharepoint DLP Use Cases

Practical Scenario

A hospital’s billing and administrative teams use SharePoint Online to store patient invoices, medical reports, and insurance forms. While collaborating with external insurance providers, a staff member accidentally updates the permissions on a SharePoint document library to “Anyone with the link,” exposing potentially thousands of patient files containing PHI.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Continuous Data Discovery: Strac automatically scans existing and newly uploaded documents, identifying PHI (e.g., medical record numbers, Social Security Numbers).
Classification & Labeling: Once identified, files are labeled (e.g., “HIPAA Sensitive”), ensuring that administrators know which documents require the highest level of protection.
Visibility into Access: Strac provides real-time insight into who has access to these sensitive documents. Administrators can instantly see if unauthorized users or broad groups have viewing rights.
Revoke Public Links: If a file is publicly accessible, Strac immediately revokes those links and restores restricted access.
Alerts & Quarantines: When someone attempts to share PHI externally, Strac can alert admins, quarantine the file for review, or completely block the action.
Audit-Ready Reports: All actions are logged, enabling quick incident response and demonstrating HIPAA compliance for audits.

Practical Scenario

A mid-sized investment firm uses SharePoint to collaborate on various client files, including:

Credit card statements (subject to PCI-DSS)
ID documents (Driver’s Licenses, Passports, etc.) used for KYC (Know Your Customer) verification
Banking information such as account and routing numbers

An associate accidentally shares a SharePoint folder containing these files with a newly onboarded client who does not require access to all confidential documents. This folder is also accessible to several internal teams outside the immediate project, creating multiple potential exposure points.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Comprehensive Data Discovery: Strac scans both existing and newly uploaded documents in SharePoint for sensitive information such as credit card numbers, bank account details, and ID documents (Driver’s License, Passport formats).
Classification & Automated Labeling: Once identified, Strac applies meaningful labels (e.g., “PCI-DSS Sensitive,” “PII – ID Documents,” “Banking Info”) to ensure these files stand out and are subject to stricter security rules.
Visibility into Access: Strac provides an immediate view of who currently has access to these sensitive files. This allows admins to spot situations where external clients or internal teams unnecessarily have permissions.
Public Access Revocation: If a labeled document (e.g., containing card data or ID scans) is found to be publicly shared or too broadly accessible, Strac automatically revokes these links or permissions, aligning access with the principle of least privilege.
Alerts, Quarantines, and Blocks: When a user attempts to share a labeled document with outside domains—or with an entire department—Strac alerts administrators or quarantines/blocks the file share, depending on policy settings.
In cases where the share is intentional but needs review, admins can approve or deny the request within Strac’s dashboard.
Audit & Compliance: Every sharing event, label assignment, and access revocation is logged, creating a detailed audit trail. This helps demonstrate compliance with PCI-DSS, KYC, AML, and other regulatory requirements.
Automatic reporting simplifies any regulatory or internal compliance audit, reducing the administrative burden on security and compliance teams.

Practical Scenario

A software company keeps source code, product roadmaps, and design specs in SharePoint. Several teams—including external contractors—use the same SharePoint site. A developer accidentally grants a large group, including some non-disclosure–exempt contractors, access to a folder containing patent-pending code.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Holistic File Scanning: Strac inspects documents, PDFs, and archives for code snippets, system designs, and proprietary business terms to detect potential IP.
Intelligent Labeling: Documents identified as containing IP or trade secrets are automatically classified (e.g., “Proprietary IP”), reinforcing the need for restricted sharing.
Real-Time Access Insights: With Strac, administrators can instantly see who has access to IP-tagged files, enabling them to remove unauthorized users or reduce permission scopes.
Immediate Link Removal: If a contractor or external partner is mistakenly granted access to IP, Strac revokes public or unauthorized sharing before the files can be downloaded.
Alerts & Blocking: Strac’s policies can be configured to alert security teams or block external sharing attempts for files containing proprietary content.
Incident Response & Auditing: Detailed logs of every share request, label change, and access revocation aid in quick incident resolution and help prove due diligence if legal issues arise.