Over 100,000 projects on GitHub contain poor coding, which is a serious problem for the platform. Developers run the risk of unintentionally using or downloading malicious software. Numerous incorrect codes found in several places point to a serious problem for GitHub. Cyber threat actors are flooding the platform with virus uploads. This makes it harder for the computers running GitHub to find & remove them. Several kinds of malicious code may be present in these repositories, including:

1. Trojan Horses: These programs, which pose as genuine software, can steal data, compromise systems, or introduce further malware.
2. Viruses: Programs that replicate themselves can infect user systems and other repositories by moving from one device to another.
3. Worms: Worms are similar to viruses in that they propagate by taking advantage of software flaws, but they replicate themselves instead of causing damage to the system.
4. Spyware: Intended to steal confidential data from users, such as financial information, login credentials, and private messages.
5. Ransomware: This malicious software encrypts the data of its victims, rendering them unreadable, and requests a ransom to unlock them.

The Impact of This Attack

When malicious code shows up on GitHub, developers could run into major problems.

First, if programmers use this code without recognizing its destruction, they might end up with software that can be hacked.

Second, if developers try to steal user data using harmful code, they might be held liable for any data breaches.

Lastly, using or circulating the flawed code could damage a developer's reputation. Their reputation may suffer, which might be bad for the company.

Steps Taken by GitHub

The Github is addressing the issue using automated tools & processes to find & remove repositories that contain any type of malware. Even yet, they continue to run against several difficulties when trying to combat it.

The biggest problem is that threat actors use a constantly changing attack method to avoid detection by security systems. Since the opponents are constantly coming up with new ways to get around the solutions, it is difficult to stay ahead of the game and one must constantly update automated systems.

In addition to this, you should also note that there is a chance of false positives. In such a case some valid code could be wrongly reported as malicious, causing inconvenience for certain developers.