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# source: https://help.github.com/articles/removing-sensitive-data-from-a-repository/

# these arguments will:
#
# force Git to process, but not check out, the entire history of every branch and tag
# remove the specified file, as well as any empty commits generated as a result
# overwrite your existing tags
#
# can only do one file at a time

$ git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch PATH-TO-YOUR-FILE-WITH-SENSITIVE-DATA' \
--prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all

# once you're happy with the state of your repository, force-push your local changes to overwrite your GitHub repository, as well as all the branches you've pushed up:
$ git push origin --force --all

# in order to remove the sensitive file from your tagged releases, you'll also need to force-push against your Git tags:
$ git push origin --force --tags

# your collaborators need to rebase, not merge, any branches they created off of the old (tainted) repository history.
# after some time has passed and you're confident that git filter-branch had no unintended side effects, you can force all objects in your local repository to be dereferenced and garbage collected with the following commands (using Git 1.8.5 or newer):

$ git for-each-ref --format='delete %(refname)' refs/original | git update-ref --stdin
$ git reflog expire --expire=now --all
$ git gc --prune=now