Tech Company’s Sensitive Data Protected from Public Exposure

Challenge

CloudSEK XVigil discovered a public GitHub repository belonging to a user associated with a major Indian fintech company. This repository contained sensitive information, including usernames, passwords, and database credentials. Such exposure posed a significant security risk, as it could be exploited by threat actors to gain unauthorized access to the company's internal systems.

Impact

The exposed credentials could be used by threat actors to gain initial access to the company’s infrastructure, perform privilege escalation, and misuse platforms like Docker Hub. This could lead to the creation of backdoors and malicious images, compromising the overall security of the organization. The breach also posed a risk of data theft and potential misuse of sensitive customer information.

Solution

CloudSEK's contextual AI digital risk platform, XVigil's Data Leak Monitor module detected the exposed information and provided comprehensive measures to secure the company's sensitive data.

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Implementation:

Detection:

• CloudSEK's XVigil discovered a GitHub repository belonging to a user associated with the fintech company, containing sensitive information such as credentials and endpoints.

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Threat Analysis:

• The exposed credentials included usernames, passwords, and database connection details, posing a high risk of unauthorized access and privilege escalation.
• The leaked information could be exploited by threat actors to gain initial access to the company’s infrastructure and perform malicious activities.

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Immediate Actions:

Based on CloudSEK's report and alerts, the organization's information security team secured the situation through:

• Revoked and rotated the leaked credentials to prevent further unauthorized access.
• Removed sensitive information from the GitHub repository's history using tools like git filter-branch and BFG Repo-Cleaner.
• Conducted a thorough audit of the repository to identify and remove any other leaked information.

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Preventive Measures:

• Implemented a strong password policy and enabled multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all logins.
• Educated developers on best practices for handling sensitive information and the importance of using secure coding practices.
• Used environment variables and secrets management tools like HashiCorp Vault to store sensitive data securely.
• Automated credential rotation using CI/CD pipelines to ensure that credentials are regularly updated and protected.