How to Detect & Prevent Source Code Exfiltration

Source code exfiltration is a growing form of cybercrime where business competitors, disgruntled employees or malicious actors obtain access to and disclose the contents of private code repositories. It can be used for extortion, commercial espionage, and intellectual property theft. To detect source code exfiltration, tools that can spot anomalous activity, provide immediate alerts, and help in investigating suspected historical losses are required. The loss of source code should be treated as an existential threat since it diminishes the unique value of a product and can expose sensitive information about system operations or customers. Automated anomaly detection tools are the most sophisticated defense against source code exfiltration, as they spot suspicious source code access patterns, alert relevant developers and security teams, and apply automatic actions that prevent the malicious activity from continuing until the alert has been triaged.