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In stunning display of stupid, secret CISA credentials found in public GitHub repo

In stunning display of stupid, secret CISA credentials found in public GitHub repo

Summary

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) had private passwords and security keys publicly exposed on a GitHub repository since at least November 2025. Security experts confirmed these credentials were real and could be used to access sensitive government cloud accounts.

Key Facts

  • A public GitHub repository named "Private-CISA" contained CISA’s plaintext passwords, private keys, tokens, and other sensitive data.
  • The repository was exposed publicly for at least seven months, from November 2025 until recently taken offline.
  • GitGuardian alerted security researcher Brian Krebs about the repository after scanning public code for secrets.
  • The repo’s administrator disabled GitHub’s usual protections that prevent accidentally publishing secret information.
  • Tests showed the leaked credentials granted high-level access to Amazon Web Services GovCloud accounts.
  • The repository appears to have been managed by Nightwing, a CISA contractor based in Virginia.
  • CISA has not publicly responded, and Nightwing referred questions back to CISA.
  • Earlier in 2026, CISA’s acting director was removed after sharing sensitive info on ChatGPT against agency rules.
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