Microsoft Certified: GitHub Advanced Security (GH-500)

For IT leaders: Leaked credentials, vulnerable dependencies, and unreviewed code changes are some of the most common ways risk enters a software organization. When security is left to a few people at the end of the release cycle, alerts pile up, remediation slows, and audit evidence becomes hard to produce.

This GH-500 course prepares engineering, DevOps, and security teams to build security into the SDLC using GitHub Advanced Security. It covers how to:

• Detect and respond to security alerts
• Protect and remediate secrets
• Secure dependencies and the software supply chain
• Govern access with organizations, CODEOWNERS, and roles
• Manage security settings at the organization level

Role fit: Developers, DevOps engineers, platform engineers, and GitHub administrators who own repositories or org-level settings. It also suits Team Leads who set security policy for development teams.

Time investment: About 8.5 hours of video across 11 skills. Most learners can finish in two to three weeks alongside regular work.

Change management: Because the course covers auto-triage, permissions, and org-wide security settings, assign it before changing policy. That way the team shares the same understanding when new controls go live.

Use Playlists to pair this course with GH-100 and GH-200 for a complete GitHub learning path. Use Team Reporting to track progress toward certification.

IT teams complete this training to move GitHub security from reactive cleanup to a repeatable, organization-wide practice. Typical scenarios the curriculum prepares your team for:

• A credential is committed to a repository. Your engineers know how secret protection works and how to remediate an exposed secret, which shortens the window of risk.
• A vulnerable package shows up in a dependency tree. Your team can detect and prioritize the vulnerability, remediate supply chain alerts, and set up Dependabot so routine updates don't consume engineering time.
• Alert volume overwhelms the team. Engineers learn detection and response workflows and auto-triage configuration, so they can focus on the findings that matter most.
• Too many people can change sensitive code. Admins apply CODEOWNERS, roles, and permissions to enforce review and least-privilege access across the organization.

The outcomes for your organization:

• Fewer security escalations late in the release cycle
• Consistent security settings across repositories
• Clearer accountability for code ownership and alert response
• A team ready to validate its skills with the GH-500 certification

Knowledge

• How to build a security strategy across the software development lifecycle
• How GitHub security alerts are detected and how response workflows operate
• How secret protection works and why exposed credentials need fast remediation
• Dependency security basics and the risks in the software supply chain
• How organizations, CODEOWNERS, roles, and permissions shape repository governance
• Recommended practices for running GitHub Advanced Security at scale

Ability

• Triage, prioritize, and respond to security alerts in GitHub
• Remediate exposed secrets and supply chain alerts
• Configure advanced Dependabot settings and auto-triage to reduce alert noise
• Apply CODEOWNERS to enforce review on sensitive code paths
• Manage roles and permissions for least-privilege access
• Configure and govern security settings at the organization level