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Enabling security features for multiple repositories

In this article

You can use security overview to select a subset of repositories and enable security features for them all.

Who can use this feature

Security overview for an organization is available to all members of the organization. The views and data displayed are determined by your role in the organization, and by your permissions for individual repositories within the organization. For more information, see "About security overview."

Security overview for an enterprise shows organization owners and security managers data for the organizations they have access to. Enterprise owners can only view data for organizations where they are added as an organization owner or security manager. For more information, see "Managing your role in an organization owned by your enterprise."

All enterprises and their organizations have a security overview. If you use GitHub Advanced Security features, which are free for public repositories, you will see additional information. For more information, see "About GitHub Advanced Security."

About enabling security features

If you're a security manager, repository administrator, or organization owner, you can use security overview to enable or disable security features for multiple repositories at the same time. You can enable or disable security features for all repositories visible on the "Security coverage" view in security overview. You can also use the search bar to narrow down to a specific subset of repositories, and enable or disable security features for that group.

Enabling security features for multiple repositories

  1. On GitHub.com, navigate to the main page of the organization.

  2. Under your organization name, click Security.

    Screenshot of the horizontal navigation bar for an organization. A tab, labeled with a shield icon and "Security," is outlined in dark orange.

  3. In the sidebar, click Coverage to display the "Security coverage" view. Screenshot of the "Security coverage" view.

  4. You can use the search bar to narrow down visible repositories in the "Security coverage" view based on name, or on the enablement status of security features.

  5. In the list of repositories, select each repository you want to modify the enablement of security features for. To select all repositories on the page, click the checkbox next to NUMBER Active. To select all repositories that match the current search, click the checkbox next to NUMBER Active and then click Select all NUMBER repos.

  6. Click Security settings next to NUMBER selected.

  7. In the side panel, next to all the security features you want to enable or disable, select Enable or Disable.

  8. As you make changes, the Apply changes button reports the number of security features you have edited. To confirm the changes, click Apply changes NUMBER. Alternatively, click to close the panel without making changes.

Screenshot of the "Security coverage" view with the side panel open. The "Apply changes" button is highlighted in a dark orange outline.

The security features that you can enable and disable in this view are:

  • Dependency graph
  • Dependabot alerts
  • Dependabot security updates
  • GitHub Advanced Security
  • Code scanning default setup
  • Secret scanning alerts
  • Secret scanning as a push protection

If you're blocked from enabling a security feature due to an enterprise policy, you will still be able to see the affected repository in the "Security Coverage" view and access the side panel from the Security settings button. However, you will see a message in the side panel indicating that the functionality is not available. For more information about enterprise policies, see "Enforcing policies for code security and analysis for your enterprise."

Organization owners and security managers can use security overview to enable or disable security features for all repositories belonging to their organization. There are no enterprise policies that restrict organization owners or security managers from enabling or disabling any security features. For more information about enterprise policies, see "About enterprise policies."