How we accelerated Secret Protection engineering with Copilot

GitHub Secret Protection is a tool designed to prevent the accidental exposure of sensitive credentials in source code, utilizing features such as push protection, validity checks, and a partner program to mitigate leaks. By creating alerts for exposed credentials and offering push protection that blocks commits containing sensitive data, it helps ensure that credentials do not enter a code base. The validity checks, a core feature developed by GitHub engineers, determine the status of leaked credentials through unobtrusive API endpoint testing, helping users prioritize alerts. Additionally, the tool supports a partner program to notify providers of leaks in public repositories, enabling immediate action like revocation or quarantine. The introduction of coding agents like GitHub Copilot has accelerated the process of adding validation support for new token types by automating parts of the workflow, although human oversight remains crucial for ensuring accuracy and handling complex tasks. The use of Copilot has significantly increased the speed and scale of operations, reducing the time required to onboard new token types and allowing engineers to focus on more intricate tasks. While Copilot acts as a powerful tool for automation, it is not a substitute for human judgment, and its outputs require thorough review and testing to ensure reliability.