Megalodon cyberattack infects 5,500 GitHub open-source repositories with malware, researchers say
A recent cyberattack known as Megalodon has compromised 5,561 GitHub open-source repositories. Researchers from SafeDep reported that the attack exploited GitHub Actions workflows to steal user credentials and other sensitive data. A detailed list of the affected repositories is available in the SafeDep security report.
- ▪The Megalodon cyberattack occurred on May 18, 2026.
- ▪It infected over 5,500 GitHub repositories with malware.
- ▪The attack utilized GitHub Actions workflows to harvest user data.
2 outlets in our directory ran this story, first to last over 5 hours. All of the coverage we found sits in one bucket: centre. That one-sidedness is itself worth noticing.
Mashable files mainly under tech. We currently carry 1,199 of its stories.
Story provenance
Source · retrieval · rights · ranking — open for full record
inspect →
Story provenance
Attribution is not the same as permission. This drawer separates discovery metadata, excerpts, WeSearch-generated summaries, reuse status, and whether the publisher receives the visit. Nothing here claims a legal grant the publisher has not made.
Record
| Original publisher | Mashable |
| Canonical URL | https://mashable.com/tech/megalodon-cyberattack-github-repositories-malware |
| Publication time | Mon, 25 May 2026 14:52:11 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-25T15:12:38.080Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-25T15:12:38.080Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | kzefobupGMGg · 2 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Home > Tech Megalodon cyberattack infects 5,500 GitHub open-source repositories with malware, researchers say Security researchers say 5,500 GitHub repositories have been affected by the attack. By Timothy Beck Werth Timothy Beck Werth Tech Editor Timothy Beck Werth is the Tech Editor at Mashable, where he leads coverage and assignments for the Tech and Shopping verticals. Tim has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and he has particular experience covering and testing consumer technology, smart home gadgets, and men’s grooming and style products. Previously, he was the Managing Editor and then Site Director of SPY.com, a men's product review and lifestyle website.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Mashable.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from Mashable
