[amb23]

What are the business risks to a company like Github when their source code has been released in the wild? Startups treat their code like IP, but I imagine it'd still be incredibly difficult for a competitor to try and build the same tool/features even if they have the code as a "cheat sheet" of sorts. Are there other risks (i.e. security vulnerabilities) it causes?

[mooman219]

I imagine the risk here is more about embarrassment than a business threat. Github endpoints are still authenticated, and their business is still in providing a service. Propping up, understanding, and maintaining the leaked codebase to use "for free" probably will never pay dividends. Another company referencing this code base when designing their own software will just expose them to needless risk in the future.

I believe this isn't an existential threat to the company by any means.