GitGuardian State of Secrets 2026: 28.65 Million New Hardcoded Secrets on GitHub, AI-Service Credential Leaks Surge 81% Year-Over-Year

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GitGuardian's annual State of Secrets Sprawl 2026 report found 28.65 million new hardcoded secrets added to public GitHub in 2025, with AI-service API key leaks specifically surging 81% year-over-year as developers integrate more AI services into their workflows. The report contextualizes why GitGuardian built AI hooks for coding assistants — the combination of AI code generation speed and credential sprawl creates a compounding risk surface. This data undermines the assumption that AI coding tools make code more secure by default.