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Checklist · Response

Leaked secret: what to do first

A password, API key or token has been committed, pasted or logged where it should not be.

Owner: Whoever found it, then the secret ownerTime: 30 to 60 min

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Immediately

Revoke or rotate the secret first. Cleaning the repository comes second; assume it is already copied.
Note what the secret grants, where it was exposed, and from when until revoked.
Tell the secret owner and the security team, even if you are sure nobody saw it.

Find out if it was used

Search the provider's logs for use of the credential from addresses you do not know, in the whole exposure window.
For cloud keys, look for new users, roles, access keys, instances, storage buckets and unusual regions.
For database or service passwords, check for logins from outside the application hosts.
If there is evidence of use, treat it as a security incident and start the incident process.

Clean up

Remove the secret from the code and replace it with a reference to the secret store.
Check other places it may be: CI logs, container image layers, tickets, chat, wikis, screenshots, backups.
Rewrite history only if it helps, and only after rotation; forks and clones keep the old copy.
Search the repositories for the same secret or the same pattern in other files.

Stop it happening again

Push protection or secret scanning is on for every repository.
A pre-commit scan is offered to developers.
Short-lived credentials replace long-lived keys where the provider supports them.
The cause is recorded without blame: why could a secret reach the repository?

Adjust it to your environment before relying on it. A finished list shows a routine was followed; it does not guarantee nothing was missed.

See these as tasks in Cisodium All checklists

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