Code at Risk: How to Protect Source Code from AI Assistants

As developers increasingly rely on AI coding assistants like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot, proprietary source code and sensitive data are automatically sent to remote third-party servers, creating significant regulatory and intellectual property risks. This article maps 13 protection solutions across three critical decision axes—deployment model (on-premise vs SaaS), target user (CISO-led vs developer-driven), and lifecycle coverage—revealing why most products fall short on the third dimension of end-to-end lifecycle protection.