A financial services company’s DevOps team was using AWS databases and S3 buckets for development, handling sensitive customer data, including account information for direct debit. While the app encrypted data both in transit and at rest, there was a significant oversight: developers were writing extensive logs into the app for debugging purposes. These logs, which sometimes remained on servers for months, contained unencrypted customer data and were often downloaded into less secure development environments.
Worse, the logs were shared among developers via personal cloud platforms and USB drives, further exposing customer information.A routine cybersecurity assessment led to the discovery of this issue.
The firm hired a cybersecurity professional who used GuardWare ASSESSOR to scan their environment. The scan revealed stored customer data in log files on developers’ devices and in their AWS environment, as well as the unsafe sharing practices.This triggered a serious internal investigation, resulting in the implementation of strict oversight processes to prevent such risks in the future. The company now uses GuardWare INSIGHT to enforce data protection policies, ensuring developers no longer inadvertently misuse customer data.
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When confronted by the IT team, the employee initially claimed to have returned the company USB, unaware that INSIGHT had logged his use of a personal USB as well.
SharePoint Malicious mass downloads from Sensitive Folder to user’s personal
device.
INSIGHT flagged this suspicious activity, and an investigation confirmed that the data had indeed been transferred.
SharePoint Exposure of Customer Data by Law firm – Human Error
In response to this breach, the firm reconfigured INSIGHT to send high-priority alerts directly to both IT personnel and the individual users responsible for risky actions.
Stored Passwords detected by INSIGHT by Company’s MSP having admin rights.
GuardWare INSIGHT’s data discovery scan detected the stored password file, prompting immediate deletion.
Scans revealed stored Customer data including bank account info in AWS DevOPs environment.
GuardWare ASSESSOR revealed stored customer data in log files on developers’ devices and in their AWS environment, as well as the unsafe sharing practices.
Outsource Developers of a financial institution detected exposing Financial APPs source code and company’s IP.
With INSIGHT, they can safely re-enable forum access, confident that any unauthorized source code postings will be promptly detected and addressed.
Productivity Monitoring WFH compared with Office
To address these concerns, the company deployed GuardWare INSIGHT’s productivity monitoring features to track work behaviors accurately.
Rogue Network
Security discovered that an employee had used system roll-back during this period, in an attempt to remove the GuardWare INSIGHT Agent from the system.
Dangers of using Cloud Storage Services and Website Transfers
GuardWare INSIGHT monitors and prevent unauthorized file uploads across cloud, web, email, and chat applications, ensuring their data stays secure and compliant.
Corporate Email Risk - Email forward to user’s Personal Email resulted in serious theft of sensitive PII data
GuardWare INSIGHT flagged the incident. The software’s AI detected the email forward to a personal account and scanned the attached file, identifying the sensitive content.
WFH Risks including VPN misuse
investigation with GuardWare INSIGHT revealed that users were frequently turning the VPN on and off. The university adjusted the configuration to ensure the VPN remains active at all times.
Malicious Insider in a Recruitment Firm – Data exfil by a Director
GuardWare INSIGHT showed that the data exfiltration occurred while the user was connected to the company’s Wi-Fi, proving the laptop was in his possession at the time.