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Question on question: What would be the reasons for a GitHub repo suddenly get cloned by a huge amount of times in a short period of time?

The question is closed as off-topic. From What topics can I ask about here? - Help Center - Information Security Stack Exchange:

IT Security Stack Exchange is for Information Security professionals to discuss protecting assets from threats and vulnerabilities.

Why doesn't this question look like discussing protecting assets from threats and vulnerabilities? Or is it the nature of pull request making it having no threat and vulnerability at all?

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Because there is nothing in the question that is about security. This falls under the category of "I see this weird thing in the logs; what is it?"

The question of "why is this being downloaded from a site that permits anyone in the world to download things as often as they want at any time" isn't about:

  • protecting assets
  • threats
  • vulnerabilities

Until there is an actual security issue, it's not about security. You have something weird that you want to investigate. That's all.

As for the question you asked, "why would someone need so many copies of the repo?" I'm not sure how anyone could answer that. And that, too isn't about security.

So, it's off-topic because it isn't about security, and it requires pure speculation.

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  • hmm, so would question about investigating whether a phenomenon is indeed about security on-topic? In other words, would rewording it as "How can I make sure that this isn't a security problem?" work?
    – Ooker
    May 4 at 12:21
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    No, because it's the same problem. You're investigating to see if the weird thing might be a security issue. There's nothing in the question to suggest that there is, or could possibly be, a security issue. So, confirm a security problem, threat, or vulnerability, then ask a question about that.
    – schroeder Mod
    May 4 at 13:01
  • if it's the asker's responsibility to confirm whether a phenomenon is indeed a security problem first, then should we have a guideline for people to check? Surely people can feel unsafe about everything
    – Ooker
    May 4 at 13:27
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    The existing guideline is enough. "Is this weird?" and "why would this permitted activity be done?" is not about protection, threats, or vulnerabilities or any other security topic.
    – schroeder Mod
    May 4 at 13:37
  • Do you think it's still better to explain that having something weird is not warrant a security issue in that on-topic page?
    – Ooker
    May 4 at 13:57
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    No, it's not a problem that comes up often.
    – schroeder Mod
    May 4 at 14:07
  • why wouldn't we make it have as much as information as possible? If it's the problem of making it long, then it's long already?
    – Ooker
    May 4 at 14:17
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    Because if we jam too much info into a FAQ, then the very thing you desire, to provide guidance, will not be achieved because then someone would have to comb thru something that includes so many specific things, that the specific line item you hope they find will be most likely missed. Again, the general guidance is more than enough to cover this situation. A Closed question is ok. There is no need to "prevent" a question from being closed due to a lack of perfect clarity.
    – schroeder Mod
    May 4 at 14:48

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