MSPs Beware: Git Exposure is a Growing Cloud Threat—Here’s What to Do

As Managed Service Providers (MSPs) take on more DevOps responsibilities and expand their cloud service offerings, a new and dangerous threat is emerging: exposed Git directories. These misconfigurations are becoming a widespread vulnerability, leaking sensitive code, secrets, and internal infrastructure details to the public internet—and bad actors are paying attention.

Recent security scans have uncovered thousands of .git folders exposed across cloud servers and web assets. These folders often contain code histories, config files, and hardcoded credentials. For an attacker, it’s like discovering a blueprint to your client’s digital operations. For MSPs, it’s a warning to strengthen defenses.

Here are five critical steps MSPs must take to mitigate this growing risk:

1. Treat Git Repositories as Critical Infrastructure

MSPs often overlook the security of code repositories, focusing instead on firewalls or endpoints. But a .git folder can expose internal logic, third-party dependencies, and API secrets. Make Git security part of your core offering, and review clients’ repos with the same urgency as any other security asset.

2. Use Automated Scanning Tools

Open-source and commercial tools like GitLeaks, GitGuardian, and TruffleHog can detect leaked secrets, exposed credentials, and vulnerable repos. Build these tools into your SOC or offer them as part of your managed security stack to proactively find and fix risky exposures.

3. Secure the Deployment Pipeline

Implement CI/CD controls that scan code before deployment, block secrets from being committed, and verify that .git folders are not publicly accessible. Educate clients who deploy their own web apps or dev environments and encourage use of private, verified repositories.

4. Monitor Public Infrastructure for Misconfigurations

Use cloud posture management tools to scan for exposed folders, buckets, and public file paths. Most exposures aren’t due to zero-days but missteps in deployment. Help clients establish automated compliance monitoring to catch mistakes before threat actors do.

5. Apply Zero Trust Principles

Enforce identity-based access, limit privileges, and ensure encrypted access to repositories and CI systems. Assume every repo is vulnerable and enforce policies that require multi-factor authentication, approval workflows, and repo-specific audit logs.

Git misconfigurations are not just a developer mistake—they’re a growing cloud security threat. As an MSP, your clients rely on you to understand the full scope of risk across code, cloud, and infrastructure. Now is the time to implement security guardrails and shift Git awareness from developer detail to boardroom priority.

Help protect your clients. Start with their code.