secret-protection-adoption-path.md

title	Secure your secrets at scale with GitHub
shortTitle	Secret protection
allowTitleToDifferFromFilename	true
intro	Leaked credentials expose your organization to data breaches. GitHub Secret Protection detects and prevents secret leaks automatically. Follow this adoption path to assess risk, pilot the solution, and scale protection organization-wide.
layout	journey-landing
versions	feature secret-risk-assessment
contentType	tutorials
category	Secure at scale Protect your secrets
journeyArticlesHeading	All secret protection articles
journeyTracks	id title description guides quick_start Quick start: Essential reading New to secret protection? Start here for the most important concepts and procedures. These articles provide foundational knowledge to help you understand secret risks, evaluate GitHub Secret Protection (GHSP), and begin your adoption journey. href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/secret-leakage-risks href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/about-secret-scanning href /code-security/tutorials/secure-your-organization/interpreting-secret-risk-assessment-results href /code-security/tutorials/remediate-leaked-secrets/assessing-ghsp-impact href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/about-push-protection id title description timeCommitment guides assess Phase 1: Assess your current secret risk Run a free secret risk assessment (SRA) to understand your organization exposure and establish baseline metrics. Before purchasing GHSP, identify how many secrets are exposed across your organization and build a data-driven business case for the investment. 10 minutes to run, 30 minutes to analyze results href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/secret-leakage-risks href /code-security/how-tos/secure-at-scale/configure-organization-security/configure-specific-tools/assess-your-secret-risk href /code-security/tutorials/secure-your-organization/interpreting-secret-risk-assessment-results href /code-security/how-tos/secure-at-scale/configure-organization-security/configure-specific-tools/viewing-your-security-risk-assessment-reports id title description timeCommitment guides evaluate Phase 2: Evaluate GitHub Secret Protection Determine if GHSP meets your needs and build a business case. Review detection capabilities, push protection features, and validity checking. Use the pricing calculator to estimate costs and calculate potential cost savings from preventing manual remediation. 2-4 hours href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/about-secret-scanning href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/about-push-protection href /code-security/reference/secret-security/supported-secret-scanning-patterns href /code-security/how-tos/secure-at-scale/configure-organization-security/configure-specific-tools/estimating-the-price-of-secret-protection href /code-security/tutorials/remediate-leaked-secrets/calculating-the-cost-savings-of-push-protection id title description timeCommitment guides pilot Phase 3: Pilot GitHub Secret Protection Run a pilot to validate GHSP with a small set of repositories before organization-wide enablement. Select 5-10 repositories with active development and known secret exposure. If you estimated pricing in Phase 2, you'll confirm costs as part of the enablement flow. A successful pilot demonstrates security value quickly, identifies workflow adjustments, and gathers feedback to refine your rollout strategy. 2-4 weeks href /code-security/concepts/security-at-scale/best-practices-for-selecting-pilot-repositories href /code-security/how-tos/secure-at-scale/configure-organization-security/configure-specific-tools/protect-your-secrets href /code-security/how-tos/secure-your-secrets/prevent-future-leaks/enabling-push-protection-for-your-repository href /code-security/tutorials/remediate-leaked-secrets/remediating-a-leaked-secret id title description timeCommitment guides monitor Phase 4: Monitor and assess value Track metrics to demonstrate ROI and identify areas for improvement. Monitor how many secrets are being detected, how often developers bypass push protection, and how quickly leaked secrets are remediated. Use these insights to refine your rollout strategy, prove value to stakeholders, and justify organization-wide deployment. 1-2 hours per week during pilot href /code-security/tutorials/remediate-leaked-secrets/assessing-ghsp-impact href /code-security/concepts/secret-security/push-protection-metrics href /code-security/tutorials/secure-your-organization/organizing-remediation-efforts-for-leaked-secrets href /code-security/tutorials/remediate-leaked-secrets/evaluating-alerts id title description timeCommitment guides scale Phase 5: Scale, customize, and automate Expand GHSP organization-wide and tailor it to your specific workflows. Use validity checks to prioritize remediation, define custom patterns for organization-specific secrets, and apply security configurations at scale. For advanced use cases, enable AI-powered detection and integrate with automated workflows. 1-2 weeks for initial rollout, ongoing for optimization href /code-security/how-tos/secure-at-scale/configure-organization-security/establish-complete-coverage/applying-a-custom-security-configuration href /code-security/how-tos/secure-your-secrets/customize-leak-detection/defining-custom-patterns-for-secret-scanning href /code-security/how-tos/secure-your-secrets/manage-bypass-requests/enabling-delegated-bypass-for-push-protection href /code-security/how-tos/secure-your-secrets/detect-secret-leaks/enabling-secret-scanning-for-non-provider-patterns href /code-security/how-tos/secure-your-secrets/detect-secret-leaks/enabling-ai-powered-generic-secret-detection href /code-security/how-tos/use-ghas-with-ai-coding-agents/scan-for-secrets-with-github-mcp-server