# Git Commit Signing and Image Signing

> **Intro:** Signing does not replace review, but it improves provenance and auditability. The goal is not symbolic cryptography. The goal is to make high-value code and release events harder to forge and easier to verify.

## Commit signing

Use commit or tag signing when you need stronger confidence that privileged changes came from expected identities.

Good use cases:

* protected repositories that control infrastructure, CI/CD, or authentication logic;
* release tags and hotfix branches;
* repositories where emergency or admin-only changes must be attributable.

## Image signing

Use image signing and verification when promotion or admission decisions depend on provenance.

Good use cases:

* promotion from build to staging or production registries;
* admission control in Kubernetes;
* evidence-backed releases with SBOMs or attestations.

## Practical guidance

* sign the smallest set of truly sensitive repositories first;
* treat signing keys, identities, and verification policy as an operational system, not a checkbox;
* verify signatures at promotion or admission time, not only at build time;
* pair signing with branch protection, review policy, and artifact immutability.

## Use with

* provenance-aware release evidence;
* SLSA / attestation discussions;
* Harbor or admission controller policy;
* emergency-change attribution.

## Open next

* [Signing, Attestation, and Verification - Legacy vs Current](/devsecops-cicd-and-supply-chain/index-1/signing-attestation-and-verification-legacy-vs-current.md)
* [Trusted Images, Harbor, and Signing](/cloud-kubernetes-and-infrastructure-security/index-1/trusted-images-harbor-and-signing.md)
* [GitHub Actions and GitLab Components Review Playbook](https://github.com/D3One/Product-Security-Gitbook/blob/main/21-third-party-and-integration-security/github-actions-and-gitlab-components-review-playbook.md)


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