Gitness enhances security in software development by integrating secret detection capabilities, leveraging tools like Gitleaks to scan every push to Git repositories for recognized secret patterns and denying commits that contain them, thereby reducing the risk of unauthorized access and data breaches. This feature helps maintain the integrity and confidentiality of code repositories and is part of Harness Open Source, which provides an end-to-end software delivery platform that aims to boost productivity and accelerate development cycles. According to the State of Secrets Sprawl Report 2024, nearly 5% of active source code repositories leaked a secret last year, posing significant security risks and potential financial and reputational damage. Dewan Ahmed, a Principal Developer Advocate at Harness with extensive experience in DevOps and infrastructure, emphasizes the importance of proactive secret detection to protect intellectual property and secure software delivery, drawing from his background with companies like IBM and Red Hat and his commitment to the tech community and underrepresented groups.