GitHub-Advanced-Security
Coming Soon
Expected availability announced soon
This course is in active development. Preview the scope below and create a free account to be notified the moment it goes live.
Advanced Security GHAS (GitHub®-Advanced-Security)
The GHAS Certification teaches security engineers and developers how to configure and leverage GitHub Advanced Security features—including code scanning, secret scanning, and dependency management—to protect codebases and enforce policies across organizations.
120
Minutes
70/100
Passing Score
$99
Exam Cost
1
Languages
Who Should Take This
Security engineers, DevOps specialists, and senior developers who have already enabled GitHub Advanced Security in one or more repositories and want to deepen their practical expertise should pursue this certification. It equips them to design, audit, and automate security policies, ensuring consistent protection across projects and organizational units.
What's Covered
1
GHAS overview, licensing, enablement, rollout strategies, API automation, and webhook integration.
2
CodeQL fundamentals, default and advanced setup, SARIF integration, alert triage, PR checks, and custom configuration.
3
Built-in and custom patterns, push protection, alert remediation, validity checks, and organizational secret management.
4
Dependency graph, Dependabot alerts, security updates, version updates, dependency review, and supply chain security.
5
Security overview dashboard, security policies, advisories, CVE assignment, and security program maturity assessment.
Exam Structure
Question Types
- Multiple Choice
- Multiple Select
Scoring Method
Percentage-based scoring with a 70% minimum passing threshold
Delivery Method
PSI online proctored exam
Recertification
Recertify every 3 years by passing the current version of the exam.
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
20 Activity Formats
Course Outline
50 learning goals
1
GHAS Features and Configuration
3 topics
GHAS Overview and Enablement
- Describe the GitHub Advanced Security feature set including code scanning, secret scanning, and dependency review and explain how they protect different stages of the software development lifecycle
- Describe GHAS licensing models for GitHub Enterprise Cloud and Enterprise Server and explain which features are available on public repositories without a GHAS license
- Implement GHAS enablement at repository and organization levels and configure feature-specific settings for code scanning, secret scanning, and dependency review
- Implement GHAS rollout strategies for large organizations including phased enablement, repository prioritization by risk, and developer onboarding for security alert workflows
GHAS API and Automation
- Implement GHAS feature management using the GitHub REST API and GraphQL API to query alerts, update alert states, and automate security workflows programmatically
- Implement webhook-based automation for security alert events to integrate GHAS findings with external ticketing systems, SIEM platforms, and notification channels
- Analyze GHAS integration patterns and evaluate approaches for consolidating security findings across multiple tools, repositories, and organizations into unified security dashboards
GHAS Metrics and Reporting
- Implement security alert trend reporting using the GitHub API to track mean time to remediation, alert backlog aging, and feature coverage rates across the organization
- Analyze GHAS adoption effectiveness metrics and evaluate key performance indicators including alert resolution rate, push protection bypass rate, and developer engagement with security alerts
2
Code Scanning
4 topics
CodeQL Fundamentals
- Describe CodeQL as a semantic code analysis engine and explain how it creates a database representation of source code to enable vulnerability detection through declarative queries
- Describe CodeQL query suites including default, security-extended, and security-and-quality and explain how suite selection balances detection coverage with false positive rates
- Describe the languages supported by CodeQL and explain how interpreted versus compiled language analysis differs in database creation and query execution
Code Scanning Configuration
- Implement code scanning using the default setup with automatic language detection and GitHub-managed CodeQL analysis configuration
- Implement code scanning using the advanced setup with a custom CodeQL workflow that configures language matrices, build steps, and query suite selection
- Implement third-party SAST tool integration by uploading SARIF files to the code scanning API for unified alert management alongside CodeQL results
- Implement custom CodeQL configuration files to specify additional queries, query filters, and path exclusions for tailored code scanning analysis
Code Scanning Alert Management
- Implement code scanning alert triage workflows including reviewing alert details, severity assessment, dismissal with reasons, and creating issues for remediation tracking
- Implement code scanning as a pull request check to prevent merging code with new security vulnerabilities and configure severity thresholds for blocking merges
- Analyze code scanning results to differentiate true positives from false positives and evaluate strategies for reducing alert noise while maintaining security coverage
- Analyze code scanning alert remediation velocity and evaluate strategies for reducing mean time to fix including automated fix suggestions, developer training, and severity-based SLA enforcement
Custom CodeQL Queries
- Describe CodeQL query language basics including predicates, classes, and data flow analysis and explain how custom queries extend detection beyond built-in query suites
- Implement custom CodeQL query packs and configuration to target organization-specific vulnerability patterns and coding standards in code scanning analysis
- Analyze CodeQL query performance and evaluate techniques for optimizing query execution time including path query refinement and source-sink specification
3
Secret Scanning
3 topics
Secret Scanning Configuration
- Describe how GitHub secret scanning detects committed secrets using pattern matching for over 200 partner patterns and explain the partner notification program for automatic revocation
- Implement custom secret scanning patterns using regular expressions to detect organization-specific credential formats and internal secret patterns not covered by built-in rules
- Implement push protection to block pushes containing detected secrets and configure bypass workflows for authorized exceptions with audit trail tracking
Secret Scanning Alert Management
- Implement secret scanning alert remediation workflows including secret rotation, alert resolution with appropriate close reasons, and notification of affected service owners
- Implement validity checks for detected secrets to determine if exposed credentials are still active and prioritize remediation of confirmed-active leaked secrets
- Analyze secret exposure risk factors and evaluate organizational secret management strategies including vault integration, short-lived tokens, and pre-commit hook enforcement
Secret Scanning at Scale
- Implement organization-level secret scanning configuration including enabling for all repositories, configuring custom patterns at org level, and managing push protection bypass requests
- Describe the secret scanning partner program and explain how GitHub automatically notifies service providers when their tokens are detected to enable rapid credential revocation
- Analyze secret scanning coverage gaps and evaluate supplementary strategies including pre-commit hooks, Git history scanning, and credential rotation automation
4
Dependency Management
3 topics
Dependabot and Dependency Graph
- Describe the GitHub dependency graph and explain how it parses manifest files (package.json, Gemfile, pom.xml) to build a complete picture of direct and transitive dependencies
- Describe Dependabot alert types including security advisories from the GitHub Advisory Database and explain how alerts map CVEs to affected dependency versions
- Implement Dependabot security updates to automatically generate pull requests that bump vulnerable dependencies to the minimum patched version
- Implement Dependabot version updates using dependabot.yml to configure scheduled dependency freshness checks with package ecosystem, directory, and update frequency settings
Dependency Review and Supply Chain
- Implement dependency review in pull requests to identify newly introduced vulnerable dependencies before they are merged into the default branch
- Implement the dependency review GitHub Action to enforce dependency security policies as automated PR checks with configurable severity thresholds and license restrictions
- Analyze dependency update strategies and evaluate the trade-offs between aggressive auto-merge policies and manual review for different risk levels and dependency ecosystems
License Compliance and SBOM
- Describe dependency license detection and explain how GitHub identifies open source licenses in dependencies to support compliance review and policy enforcement
- Implement SBOM export for repositories using the GitHub dependency graph API and evaluate how SBOMs support vulnerability disclosure and regulatory compliance requirements
5
Security Overview and Policies
3 topics
Security Overview Dashboard
- Describe the Security Overview dashboard at organization and enterprise levels and explain how it aggregates alert data across repositories for security posture assessment
- Implement Security Overview filters and views to identify high-risk repositories, track alert trends over time, and monitor GHAS feature enablement coverage across the organization
- Analyze organizational security posture using Security Overview metrics and evaluate prioritization strategies for alert remediation based on severity, exploitability, and business impact
Security Policies and Advisories
- Implement SECURITY.md policy files to define vulnerability reporting procedures and establish responsible disclosure workflows for repository maintainers
- Implement repository security advisories to privately discuss, patch, and disclose vulnerabilities with CVE assignment through the GitHub Advisory Database
- Analyze security program maturity using GHAS adoption metrics and evaluate strategies for embedding security into the development workflow without creating developer friction
Compliance and Governance
- Implement organization-level security configurations including default security settings for new repositories, required security features, and compliance-driven alert policies
- Describe how GHAS features support compliance frameworks including SOC 2 continuous monitoring, audit evidence collection, and vulnerability management lifecycle documentation
- Analyze the effectiveness of shift-left security programs and evaluate how GHAS integration into developer workflows reduces the cost and time of vulnerability remediation compared to post-deployment scanning
Certification Benefits
Salary Impact
$150,000
Average Salary
Related Job Roles
Application Security Engineer
DevSecOps Engineer
Security Architect
Software Security Lead
Platform Security Engineer
Industry Recognition
The GitHub Advanced Security certification validates expertise in GitHub's integrated application security platform. As shift-left security becomes standard practice, GHAS-certified professionals are valued for their ability to embed automated security scanning into developer workflows without disrupting productivity.
Scope
Included Topics
- All domains in the GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) Certification: GHAS Features and Configuration (25%), Code Scanning (25%), Secret Scanning (20%), Dependency Management (15%), and Security Overview and Policies (15%).
- GHAS licensing, enablement at repository and organization levels, and integration with GitHub Enterprise Cloud and Server.
- Code scanning with CodeQL including query suites, custom queries, code scanning alerts, alert triage, and CI integration via the CodeQL CLI and GitHub Actions.
- Secret scanning including built-in patterns, custom patterns, push protection, alert management, and partner program integrations.
- Dependabot alerts, Dependabot security updates, Dependabot version updates, dependency review, and software composition analysis.
- Security overview dashboards, security policies, security advisories, and organizational security posture management.
Not Covered
- General GitHub platform features and collaboration workflows covered by the GitHub Foundations certification.
- GitHub Actions workflow authoring and custom action development covered by the GitHub Actions certification.
- Third-party SAST, DAST, and SCA tools beyond their integration points with GitHub code scanning via SARIF upload.
- Penetration testing, exploit development, and offensive security techniques.
- Compliance framework details (SOC 2, PCI DSS, FedRAMP) beyond GitHub's security feature support for compliance.
Official Exam Page
Learn more at GitHub
GitHub-Advanced-Security is coming soon
Adaptive learning that maps your knowledge and closes your gaps.
Create Free Account to Be Notified