Open-source secret scanner exposes crypto phishing site with leaked Firebase credentials

Short summary

The author's open-source secret scanner Sentinel caught a crypto scammer who had hardcoded Firebase credentials in a Tether phishing site. The incident highlights how AI-generated code is causing a spike in leaked secrets, and why context-aware scanners outperform traditional entropy-based tools. Sentinel is a Go-based pre-commit hook that catches hardcoded assignments before they reach version control.

• •Open-source scanner Sentinel accidentally exposed a USDT phishing operation via leaked Firebase keys
• •AI code generation is driving a massive increase in accidentally committed secrets
• •Sentinel uses lexical context-awareness instead of just entropy to catch hardcoded credentials

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.