Code Snippet Sharing Service
A Code Snippet Sharing Service is a platform that allows developers to share and store small pieces of code, often called "snippets," "gist," or "paste." These services facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing, and code reuse. Examples include GitHub Gist, Pastebin, and similar services. Developers use them to share code examples, configuration files, error messages, and more.
Staying on top of an organization's and all of its parties (employees, contractors, partners, etc.) presence within these services is crucial from an external attack surface management (EASM) and digital risk perspective for several reasons:
Exposure of Sensitive Data: Code snippets can inadvertently contain sensitive information such as API keys, passwords, database connection strings, internal IP addresses, or proprietary algorithms. If these are exposed publicly, attackers can easily find and use them to gain unauthorized access to internal systems or data. Even seemingly innocuous snippets can reveal valuable information about the organization's infrastructure.
Vulnerability Disclosure: Snippets may contain code with known vulnerabilities. Sharing such code publicly makes it easy for attackers to identify and exploit these weaknesses in the organization's applications or systems. Even if the snippet isn't directly from production code, it might reflect similar coding practices in production.
Intellectual Property Leakage: Proprietary code, algorithms, or business logic shared in snippets can be stolen by competitors. This can lead to loss of competitive advantage and revenue.
Reputational Damage: If sensitive data is leaked or vulnerabilities are exploited due to exposed code snippets, it can damage the organization. This can erode customer trust and impact business.
Compliance Violations: Certain industries are subject to regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) that require organizations to protect sensitive data. Exposing such data in code snippets can lead to compliance violations and fines.
Third-Party Risk: Employees of partner organizations or contractors might inadvertently expose sensitive data related to your organization. Monitoring their presence on snippet-sharing services is essential for managing third-party risk.
Attack Surface Expansion: Every public code snippet containing information about your organization expands your attack surface. Attackers can use search engines and specialized tools to find these snippets and use them as attack entry points.
By actively monitoring code snippet-sharing services, organizations can identify and remediate potential risks before they are exploited. This includes:
Discovering exposed sensitive data: Regularly scanning these platforms for sensitive information.
Identifying vulnerable code: Analyzing shared code for known vulnerabilities.
Enforcing code-sharing policies: Educating employees about secure code-sharing practices and implementing policies to prevent accidental exposure of sensitive information.
Using automated tools: Leveraging tools to monitor code-sharing services and identify potential risks continuously.
Managing third-party access: Extending monitoring and policies to include partners and contractors.
ThreatNG can help organizations address the risks associated with code snippet-sharing services in the following ways:
External Discovery: ThreatNG can automatically discover an organization's presence on code-sharing platforms like Pastebin, GitHub Gist, and others, even if those accounts or posts were created by third parties like employees, partners, or contractors. This discovery process is unauthenticated and purely external, meaning it doesn't require any internal access or agents.
External Assessment: ThreatNG's external assessment capabilities are crucial in evaluating the risks associated with code snippets.
Sensitive Code Exposure Module: This investigation module directly addresses the analysis of "Exposed Public Code Repositories uncovering digital risks that include Access Credentials (API Keys, Access Tokens, Generic Credentials, Cloud Credentials, Security Credentials, Other Secrets), Database Exposures (Database Files and Database Credentials), Application Data Exposures, Activity Records, Communication Platform Configurations, Development Environment Configurations, Security Testing Tools, Cloud Service Configurations, Remote Access Credentials, System Utilities, Personal Data, User Activity, and Mobile Apps."
Online Sharing Exposure Module: This module focuses on identifying and assessing organizational presence within online code-sharing platforms, which would inherently involve analyzing the code repositories for sensitive information exposure.
Data Leak Susceptibility: ThreatNG's assessment goes beyond simply identifying exposed secrets. It combines code secret exposure analysis findings with other intelligence sources, such as dark web presence, domain intelligence, and financial disclosures (SEC Form 8-Ks), to provide a comprehensive data leak susceptibility rating. This holistic approach helps organizations prioritize and address the most critical risks.
Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG monitors the organization's presence on code-sharing platforms and other external sources for changes or new exposures. This ensures that new code snippets containing sensitive information are quickly identified and addressed.
Investigation Modules: ThreatNG provides a variety of investigation modules that can be used to delve deeper into identified risks.
Online Sharing Exposure Module: This module provides detailed information about the organization's presence on code-sharing platforms, including the specific code snippets, their content, and the associated accounts.
Sensitive Code Exposure Module: This module helps analyze the exposed code snippets for various types of sensitive information, clearly separating the potential risks.
Domain Intelligence, IP Intelligence, and Certificate Intelligence Modules: These modules can gather additional context about the code snippets, such as the associated domains, IP addresses, and certificates. This information can help identify the source of the exposure and assess the potential impact.
Policy Management: ThreatNG's policy management capabilities enable organizations to define and enforce policies related to code sharing.
Customizable Risk Configuration and Scoring: Organizations can customize the risk scoring model to align with their risk tolerance and prioritize the most critical exposures.
Dynamic Entity Management: This allows organizations to define and track any person, place, or entity relevant to their security, including employees, partners, and contractors. This ensures that code snippets any entities share are monitored and assessed.
Exception Management: This provides granular control over what's investigated, allowing organizations to focus on the most relevant risks.
Pre-built Policy Templates: ThreatNG offers pre-built policy templates to be used as a starting point for code-sharing policies.
Intelligence Repositories: ThreatNG's intelligence repositories, including dark web data, compromised credentials, and known vulnerabilities, can enrich the analysis of exposed code snippets. For example, if a code snippet contains a password that has been previously compromised, ThreatNG will flag it as a critical risk.
Working with Complementary Solutions: ThreatNG can integrate with other security tools, such as vulnerability scanners, security information and event management (SIEM) systems, and threat intelligence platforms. This allows organizations to leverage ThreatNG's findings to enhance their security.
Examples of ThreatNG Helping:
Identifying a leaked API key: ThreatNG discovers a code snippet on Pastebin that contains an API key for a critical internal system. The organization is then able to revoke the key and prevent unauthorized access.
Preventing a subdomain takeover: ThreatNG identifies a code snippet that reveals a vulnerable subdomain. The organization secures the subdomain before an attacker can take it over.
Enforcing code-sharing policies: ThreatNG's policy management capabilities help an organization implement its code-sharing policies, preventing employees from accidentally exposing sensitive information.
Examples of ThreatNG Working with Complementary Solutions:
Integrating with a vulnerability scanner: ThreatNG's findings are used to prioritize vulnerability scans, focusing on the systems and applications that are most exposed.
Correlating with SIEM events: ThreatNG's alerts are associated with SIEM events to provide a more comprehensive view of the security landscape.
Enriching threat intelligence: ThreatNG's intelligence repositories enrich threat intelligence feeds, providing more context about potential threats.
