Cloud Security, Network Security

Over a million secrets leaked by websites

Share
key on monitor screen, cybersecurity concept

Cybernews reports that more than 1.1 million secrets have been publicly exposed by the environment files of 58,364 websites around the world, most of which are in the U.S., followed by Germany, India, France, and Singapore.

Database credentials were the most prevalently exposed secret, having been observed across more than 27,000 websites' .envs, followed by application keys, email credentials, Mautic admin credentials, and Amazon Web Services keys, a report from the Cybernews research team showed.

While version control issues, web server misconfigurations, human error, lacking access control, and deployment mistakes have been cited as the primary reasons for leaked .env files, most databases with exposed credentials and their respective websites were discovered to have been using the same server, reducing challenges for threat actors, said researchers.

"Without any IP whitelisting, anyone who finds the correct credentials can log into the database and read private customer and company information," researchers added.

An In-Depth Guide to Cloud Security

Get essential knowledge and practical strategies to fortify your cloud security.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

You can skip this ad in 5 seconds