Information Leakage

What is Information Leakage

Information leakage is the unintended or unauthorized sharing of sensitive information.

This can result from intentional actions, like insider threats, or unintentional actions, such as human error.

Regardless of how the data was leaked, attackers exploit information leakage to gain insights into their targets, compromise systems, and steal sensitive information.

How Do Attackers Leverage Information Leakage

By understanding how attackers exploit information leakage, organizations can better protect themselves. Here are some common methods and strategies they use:

Account Takeover (ATO): Using leaked credentials or personal information attackers take over online accounts. This leads to unauthorized transactions, identity theft, or further breaches.
Credential Stuffing: Attackers use leaked credentials (usernames and passwords) from one service to attempt to gain access to accounts on other services, exploiting users who reuse passwords.
Phishing and Spear Phishing: Leaked information is used to craft convincing phishing emails tailored to specific individuals or organizations.
Social Engineering: Attackers use leaked personal or organizational information to manipulate their victims into performing actions or divulging additional sensitive information.
Business Email Compromise (BEC): Using detailed knowledge about an organization, obtained through information leakage, to convincingly impersonate executives or business partners and request fraudulent transfers or sensitive data.
Extortion and Ransomware: Threatening to publicly release leaked sensitive information unless a ransom is paid.
Competitive Espionage: Using leaked proprietary information to gain a competitive edge, such as trade secrets, product plans, or strategic business information.
Personal Data Exploitation: Exploiting leaked personal data for identity theft, fraudulent activities, or selling the information on dark web marketplaces.
Reconnaissance for Targeted Attacks: Gathering leaked information to better understand the target’s infrastructure, technologies used, and key personnel for more effective attacks.
Building Comprehensive Profiles: Combining leaked data from multiple sources to build detailed profiles on individuals or organizations. This is highly effective in identity theft and social engineering attacks.

What Types of Data are Most Often Targeted

Malicious users will target the most valuable data an organization has. Some common examples include:

Personal Identifiable Information (PII): Names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth, and email addresses.
Credentials: Usernames, passwords, security questions and answers, and multi-factor authentication seed tokens.
Financial Information: Credit card numbers, bank account details, payment card information, and transaction records.
Health Information: Medical records, health insurance information, prescriptions, and patient histories.
Intellectual Property (IP): Trade secrets, patents, proprietary algorithms, product designs, and research and development data.
Corporate Data: Business plans, financial reports, internal communications, and client information.
System Information: Network configurations, system logs, software versions, and security protocols.

What are the consequences of leaking information?

Information leakage can have serious consequences depending on the type of information leaked, the context in which it’s leaked, and who gains access to it. Here are some common consequences:

Privacy Violation: Leaked personal information such as social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, or medical records can lead to privacy issues. This can result in identity theft, harassment, or discrimination.
Financial Loss: Leaked financial information such as credit card numbers, bank account details, or transaction records can lead to financial loss through fraudulent transactions or unauthorized access to accounts.
Security Risks: Information leakage can provide threat actors with valuable insights into an organization’s systems, networks, or vulnerabilities. This can be exploited for cyber attacks, data breaches, or other security incidents like DDoS attacks.
Reputational Damage: Leaked sensitive information about individuals, organizations, or businesses can damage their reputation. This can lead to loss of trust from customers, clients, or partners. Reputational damage often has long-lasting negative effects on relationships and brand image.
Legal and Regulatory Consequences: Depending on the nature of the leaked information and applicable laws, organizations may face legal repercussions. These include regulatory fines, lawsuits, or penalties for failing to protect sensitive data.
Competitive Advantage Loss: Leaked proprietary information, trade secrets, or intellectual property can provide competitors with an unfair advantage. This can lead to loss of market share, decreased competitiveness, and negatively impact revenue and growth.
Loss of Trust and Confidence: Information leakage erodes trust and confidence among stakeholders, including customers, employees, and investors. This can undermine relationships, prevent collaborations, and negatively effect overall business success.

Examples of Data Breaches Involving Information Leakage

Cambridge Analytica Scandal: In 2018, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, had harvested the personal data of millions of Facebook users without their consent. The data was used to create psychographic profiles for targeted political advertising during the 2016 US presidential election campaign.
Equifax Data Breach: In 2017, Equifax, one of the largest credit reporting agencies in the United States, suffered a massive data breach. Attackers exploited a vulnerability in Equifax’s website to gain unauthorized access to sensitive personal information of approximately 147 million consumers, including names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some cases, driver’s license numbers.
Marriott International Data Breach: In 2018, Marriott International disclosed a massive data breach affecting its Starwood guest reservation database. The breach exposed personal information, including names, addresses, passport numbers, and payment card details, of up to 500 million customers.

How To Prevent Information Leakage

Here are some best practices that you can use:

Data Classification: Classify data based on its sensitivity level, and apply appropriate access controls and encryption mechanisms accordingly. This helps prioritize protection efforts and ensures that sensitive information receives the highest level of security.
Access Control: Implement strong access controls to restrict access to sensitive data to authorized personnel only. Use role-based access control (RBAC), least privilege principle, and enforce strong authentication methods such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) to verify users’ identities.
Encryption: Encrypt sensitive data both at rest and in transit using strong encryption algorithms. This helps protect data from unauthorized access even if it is intercepted or stolen.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions: Deploy DLP solutions to monitor and prevent the unauthorized transmission of sensitive data outside the organization’s network. DLP solutions can detect and block sensitive data leakage through multiple channels.
Network Segmentation: Segment the network to isolate sensitive data and restrict access to authorized users only. This helps contain potential breaches and prevents unauthorized lateral movement within the network.
Regular Security Audits and Assessments: Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify weaknesses in security controls. Regularly review access logs and monitor for suspicious activities that may indicate unauthorized access or data leakage.
Endpoint Security: Implement endpoint security solutions such as antivirus software, endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, and mobile device management (MDM) solutions to protect endpoints from malware, unauthorized access, and data exfiltration.
Secure Configuration Management: Ensure that systems, applications, and devices are configured securely according to industry best practices and vendor recommendations. Regularly patch and update software to address security vulnerabilities and minimize the risk of exploitation.
Incident Response Plan: Develop and regularly test an incident response plan to effectively respond to and mitigate the impact of security incidents. Define roles and responsibilities, establish communication protocols, and outline procedures for containing, investigating, and remediating incidents.
Data Breach Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring to track compromised employee and customer credentials, leaked session tokens, and company data that’s being leaked or sold on the dark web. Automate password resets to prevent threat actors from gaining unauthorized access to your network.