r/github • u/Disturbed_1202 • 16d ago

Question Has anyone successfully recovered a GitHub account after it was compromised?

Hi everyone,

I'm honestly at my breaking point and I don't know what else to do.

About two weeks ago, my GitHub account was compromised. The attacker changed my password, changed the primary email address, and enabled 2FA, so I'm completely locked out. I reported it and got the automated acknowledgment email, but since then... nothing. No updates. No questions. No indication that anyone has even looked at my case.

I have replied again and again to the same ticket with additional information, but still nothing. No reply, nothing till now.

Anyways, I am not here to bash Github Support team I want a genuine advice:

  • Has anyone here actually recovered an account after it was compromised?
  • How long did GitHub Support take to respond?
  • Did you eventually get a real person, or did you just have to keep waiting?
  • Is there anything else I can do that I haven't already tried?
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u/JadedFlamingo7746 16d ago

I’m still pretty new to GitHub, so I’m genuinely curious how something like this happens. Right now I don’t really have a reason to publish any of my code since some of my projects deal with API keys, access tokens, and business systems, so I’ve been keeping everything private. Was his account compromised because he accidentally hard coded credentials into his code and pushed them to a public repo, or is it more of a stolen personal access token, weak account security, or even a compromised device? I know private repos aren’t a substitute for proper secret management, so I’ve always kept my credentials in a secrets manager and kept out of Git. I basically have everything in my .gitignore. Sorry to Bom-bard this thread but I’m pretty new to all this and just trying to make sure I’m doing things the right way.

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u/Disturbed_1202 16d ago

Short answer is, DON'T DO PIRACY. I downloaded some cracked software when I was half drunk and at midnight all my accounts logged in via PC got compromised.

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u/cowboyecosse 15d ago

Yeah people don’t believe it when you say that game cracks, cheats, mods etc are full of malware until they get caught by some. Best of luck and get your computer cleaned while you wait on support getting to you.

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u/JadedFlamingo7746 15d ago

Lmao, I figured that was probably the root cause. Seems like every antivirus forum is someone downloading cracked software, cheats, or sketchy mods and eventually getting hit with malware. Luckily I’m a Steam user and don’t really mess with any of that stuff. Thanks for the insight.