Collaborative Code Hosting Platforms

Collaborative Code Hosting Platforms are web-based services that provide a centralized location for developers to store, manage, and collaborate on source code. These platforms typically use version control systems like Git to track changes, allow multiple developers to work simultaneously on the same project, and facilitate code review processes. Popular examples include GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.  

In the context of cybersecurity, these platforms present a unique set of considerations due to the sensitive nature of the data they host – the very blueprint of software applications. A security breach on these platforms can have far-reaching consequences, potentially leading to:  

• Exposure of Intellectual Property: Unauthorized access can lead to the theft of proprietary algorithms, business logic, and other valuable code.  

• Supply Chain Attacks: Malicious actors can inject vulnerabilities or backdoors into code hosted on these platforms, which can then be incorporated into downstream software, affecting numerous users.  

• Credential Theft: Code repositories can inadvertently contain sensitive credentials like API keys, passwords, and cryptographic keys, making them prime targets for attackers.  

• Malware Hosting and Distribution: Threat actors can use these platforms to host and distribute malware disguised as legitimate projects or libraries.  

• Phishing and Social Engineering: Attackers can use these platforms' collaborative features to conduct phishing campaigns targeting developers.  

• Denial of Service (DoS): Platforms can be targeted for DoS attacks, disrupting development workflows.  

• Data Breaches: Sensitive project-related data, beyond just the code, such as issue trackers and project documentation, can be exposed.

Therefore, securing collaborative code hosting platforms is paramount. This involves a multifaceted approach encompassing the platform providers, the organizations and individuals using them, and the development practices employed.  

Cybersecurity Risks Associated with Collaborative Code Hosting Platforms

Several specific cybersecurity risks are associated with these platforms:

• Weak Authentication and Access Control: Insufficient password policies, lack of multi-factor authentication (MFA), and overly permissive access controls can allow unauthorized individuals to gain access to repositories.  

• Software Vulnerabilities: The platforms themselves are software and can contain vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit.  

• Insecure Integrations: Third-party integrations and applications connected to these platforms might have security flaws that can be leveraged.  

• Insider Threats: Malicious or negligent insiders can intentionally or unintentionally expose or compromise code and sensitive information.  

• Accidental Exposure of Secrets: Developers might inadvertently commit sensitive information directly into the code repository.

• Compromised Developer Accounts: Attackers can target individual developer accounts through phishing or credential stuffing to gain access.  

• Malicious Contributions: Threat actors can submit malicious code through pull requests or compromise contributor accounts.  

• Lack of Visibility and Monitoring: Insufficient logging and monitoring can hinder detecting suspicious activities.  

• Misconfigurations: Incorrectly configured repository permissions or platform settings can create security loopholes.

• Abuse of Automation Features: If not properly secured, features like CI/CD pipelines can be abused to execute malicious code or exfiltrate data.  

Security Best Practices for Collaborative Code Hosting Platforms

To mitigate these risks, organizations and developers should implement the following security best practices:

• Strong Authentication and Access Control:

• Enforce strong password policies.

• Mandate the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users.

• Implement the principle of least privilege, granting users only the necessary permissions.

• Regularly review and audit user access and permissions.

• Use Single Sign-On (SSO) where possible for centralized user management. 

• Secure Code Review Processes:

• Implement mandatory code reviews for all changes before merging.

• Train developers on secure coding practices and common vulnerabilities.  

• Use automated static analysis security testing (SAST) tools and manual reviews.  

• Pay close attention to input validation, authentication, authorization, and error handling.

• Secret Management:

• Avoid storing sensitive credentials directly in the code.

• Use dedicated secret management tools and techniques (e.g., environment variables, HashiCorp Vault, cloud provider secret managers).

• Implement secret scanning tools to detect accidentally committed secrets.  

• Dependency Management:

• Keep all dependencies up-to-date with the latest security patches. 

• Use software composition analysis (SCA) tools to identify vulnerabilities in third-party libraries.  

• Pin dependency versions to ensure consistent and secure builds.  

• Secure CI/CD Pipelines:

• Harden CI/CD environments and restrict access.

• Use dedicated service accounts with limited privileges for CI/CD processes.  

• Securely store and manage CI/CD secrets and credentials.

• Implement code signing to ensure the integrity of build artifacts.  

• Regular Security Audits and Vulnerability Assessments:

• Conduct periodic security audits of the code hosting platform configurations and usage.

• Perform vulnerability assessments to identify potential weaknesses.

• Monitoring and Logging:

• Enable comprehensive logging of all activities on the platform.

• Implement security monitoring tools to detect suspicious behavior and anomalies.  

• Set up alerts for critical security events.

• Network Security:

• Restrict network access to the code hosting platform where possible.

• Use secure protocols (HTTPS, SSH).

• Employee Training and Awareness:

• Educate developers and other users about the security risks associated with code hosting platforms.

• Train them on best practices for password security, avoiding phishing attacks, and handling sensitive information.  

• Incident Response Plan:

• Develop and maintain an incident response plan for potential security breaches on the code hosting platform.

• Regularly test and update the plan.

• Platform-Specific Security Features:

• Leverage the security features offered by the code hosting platform provider (e.g., branch protection rules, IP allowlisting, audit logs).  

• Secure Third-Party Integrations:

• Carefully vet all third-party integrations and grant them only the necessary permissions.  

• Regularly review and audit these integrations.

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP):

• Implement DLP strategies to prevent sensitive information from being inadvertently or maliciously exposed.

By implementing these detailed security measures, organizations can significantly reduce the cybersecurity risks associated with using collaborative code hosting platforms and protect their valuable code and sensitive information.

Through its comprehensive capabilities, ThreatNG can significantly enhance the security of collaborative code hosting platforms by addressing various cybersecurity risks.

External Discovery: ThreatNG performs purely external, unauthenticated discovery without needing connectors. This capability is crucial for code hosting platforms as it allows ThreatNG to identify exposed instances of these platforms or related assets that might be publicly accessible but are not meant to be, such as forgotten instances, staging environments, or shadow IT. For example, ThreatNG could discover a publicly exposed GitHub Enterprise instance that an organization uses but has not adequately secured, or it might identify an open Bitbucket server with misconfigured access.

External Assessment: ThreatNG offers various assessment ratings that directly apply to the risks associated with collaborative code hosting platforms:

• Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: ThreatNG analyzes external attack surfaces and digital risk intelligence, including Domain Intelligence, to identify potential entry points for attackers. For code hosting platforms, this could mean assessing the susceptibility of the platform's web interface to hijacking attempts, such as through exposed administrative panels or vulnerable login pages.

• Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: By analyzing subdomains, DNS records, and SSL certificate statuses, ThreatNG can identify subdomains associated with code-hosting platforms vulnerable to takeover. For example, a company could have an old dev.company.com subdomain pointing to a de-provisioned cloud service, making it susceptible to takeover and potential malicious code injection or phishing.

• BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: ThreatNG derives this score from factors like Domain Intelligence (including Domain Name Permutations, Web3 Domains, and Email Intelligence) and Dark Web Presence (Compromised Credentials). This is vital for code hosting platforms, as compromised developer credentials often lead to phishing attacks. ThreatNG could identify if a developer's email domain is susceptible to spoofing or if their credentials have appeared on the dark web, indicating a higher risk of account compromise on code hosting platforms.

• Brand Damage Susceptibility: This assessment considers attack surface intelligence, digital risk intelligence, ESG Violations, Sentiment and Financials (Lawsuits, SEC filings, SEC Form 8-Ks, and Negative News), and Domain Intelligence. If a breach occurs on a code hosting platform and intellectual property is exposed, ThreatNG would flag this potential for brand damage by monitoring for negative news or legal filings related to data breaches.

• Data Leak Susceptibility: Derived from Cloud and SaaS Exposure, Dark Web Presence (Compromised Credentials), Domain Intelligence (DNS and Email Intelligence), and Sentiment and Financials. ThreatNG can identify if sensitive code or project data from collaborative platforms has leaked to the dark web or cloud storage, helping to assess the organization's overall data leak risk.

• Cyber Risk Exposure: This score considers factors like certificates, subdomain headers, vulnerabilities, and sensitive ports. For code hosting platforms, ThreatNG would identify misconfigured SSL certificates on a GitLab instance, exposed sensitive ports on a Bitbucket server, or known vulnerabilities in the platform's software, contributing to cyber risk. Code Secret Exposure, which discovers code repositories and sensitive data within their contents, is also factored in.

• Code Secret Exposure: ThreatNG specifically discovers code repositories and investigates their contents for sensitive data. This is directly relevant to preventing accidental exposure of secrets on collaborative code hosting platforms. ThreatNG would identify exposed API keys, passwords, or cryptographic keys committed to a public or private GitHub repository.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: ThreatNG evaluates cloud services and SaaS solutions. If an organization hosts its code on a SaaS platform like GitHub or GitLab, ThreatNG assesses the exposure level of these services, including compromised credentials on the dark web.

• ESG Exposure: ThreatNG rates an organization based on discovered environmental, social, and governance (ESG) violations. While not directly tied to code exposure, if a code hosting platform-related incident leads to significant data loss or privacy violations, ThreatNG's ESG exposure assessment would highlight related offenses.

• Supply Chain & Third-Party Exposure: This is crucial for collaborative code hosting platforms, as many organizations use third-party libraries and vendors. ThreatNG identifies vendor technologies from DNS and subdomains and assesses cloud and SaaS exposure. It could reveal if a third-party library used in an organization's code, hosted on a collaborative platform, has known vulnerabilities or if a vendor providing services to the platform has a security weakness.

• Breach & Ransomware Susceptibility: This score is based on domain intelligence (exposed sensitive ports, private IPs, known vulnerabilities), dark web presence (compromised credentials, ransomware events), and sentiment and financials (SEC Form 8-Ks). ThreatNG can assess if a code hosting platform's infrastructure has exposed sensitive ports or private IPs, or if there's evidence of compromised credentials or ransomware activity targeting the organization, increasing its susceptibility to breaches and ransomware attacks.

• Mobile App Exposure: ThreatNG discovers mobile apps in marketplaces and assesses their contents for access credentials, security credentials, and platform-specific identifiers. If an organization's mobile app source code is hosted on a collaborative platform and contains sensitive information, ThreatNG can identify if that information is exposed within the publicly available app.

Reporting: ThreatNG provides various reports, including Executive, Technical, Prioritized (High, Medium, Low, and Informational), Security Ratings, Inventory, Ransomware Susceptibility, and U.S. SEC Filings. For collaborative code hosting platforms, these reports would provide:

• Prioritized reports: Highlighting critical vulnerabilities in public code repositories or misconfigurations in platform settings that need immediate attention.

• Security Ratings reports: Offering an overall security posture score for the organization's use of code hosting platforms.

• Inventory reports: Listing all discovered code repositories and related assets.

• Ransomware Susceptibility reports: Indicating the likelihood of ransomware attacks impacting code and development environments.

Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG monitors external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings for all organizations. Constant monitoring is vital for collaborative code hosting platforms because new vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or accidental exposures can occur at any time. ThreatNG would continuously scan for newly exposed repositories, changes in DNS records pointing to sensitive development environments, or new compromised credentials on the dark web related to developers' accounts.

Investigation Modules: ThreatNG's investigation modules provide detailed insights into various aspects of an organization's external presence:

• Domain Intelligence: This module includes:

• Domain Overview: Identify Bug Bounty Programs and related SwaggerHub instances, including API documentation and specifications. This helps understand publicly accessible API documentation, which could be linked to code hosted on platforms like GitHub.

• DNS Intelligence: Analyzes domain records, identifies vendors and technologies, and checks domain name permutations and Web3 domains. This would help determine if code hosting platforms are hosted on unusual or suspicious domains, or if misconfigured DNS records could lead to subdomain takeovers.

• Email Intelligence: Provides email security presence and format predictions. This is useful for identifying potential phishing vectors targeting developers with access to code repositories.

• WHOIS Intelligence: Provides WHOIS analysis and identifies other domains owned. This can link seemingly disparate domains to an organization's code hosting activities.

• Subdomain Intelligence: Examines HTTP responses, header analysis (security and deprecated headers), server headers (technologies), cloud hosting, website builders, e-commerce platforms, CMS, CRM, email marketing, communication and marketing, landing page builders, sales enablement, online course platforms, help desk software, knowledge base software, customer feedback platforms, code repositories (Bitbucket, Github), cloud hosting (Heroku, Pantheon, Vercel), API management, developer tools, documentation platforms, product management, video hosting, blogging platforms, podcast hosting, digital publishing, photo sharing, content experience, translation management, brand management, website monitoring, status communication, survey platforms, project management, shipment tracking , Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility, Content Identification (Admin Pages, APIs, Development Environments, VPNs, Empty HTTP/HTTPS Responses, HTTP/HTTPS Errors, Applications, Google Tag Managers, Javascript, Emails, Phone Numbers), and Ports (IoT/OT, Industrial Control Systems, Databases, Remote Access Services), and Known Vulnerabilities. For example, ThreatNG could identify a subdomain like git.company.com that has insecure server headers, is hosted on a vulnerable cloud service, or exposes sensitive ports. It can also identify admin pages or development environments within these subdomains, which are critical for securing code hosting platforms.

• IP Intelligence: Identifies IPs, shared IPs, ASNs, country locations, and private IPs. This helps map the network infrastructure hosting collaborative code platforms and identify any exposed private IPs.

• Certificate Intelligence: Analyzes TLS certificates, their status, issuers, and associated organizations. This helps ensure that code hosting platforms use valid and secure certificates.

• Social Media: Monitors posts from the organization. This can help detect mentions of code leaks or security incidents related to code hosting platforms on social media.

• Sensitive Code Exposure:

• Code Repository Exposure: Discovers public code repositories and uncovers digital risks including various access credentials (API keys, access tokens, generic credentials), cloud credentials, security credentials (cryptographic keys), other secrets, different configuration files (application, system, network), database exposures (files and credentials), application data exposures (remote access, encryption keys, encrypted data, Java keystores, code repository data), activity records (command history, logs, network traffic), communication platform configurations, development environment configurations, security testing tools, cloud service configurations, remote access credentials, system utilities, personal data, and user activity. This is a core strength for code hosting platforms. ThreatNG would scan GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket for inadvertently committed API keys, database credentials, SSH private keys, or configuration files that could expose sensitive information or provide access to internal systems.

• Mobile Application Discovery: Discovers mobile apps in marketplaces and identifies the presence of access credentials, security credentials, and platform-specific identifiers within them. If a mobile app's source code, including its sensitive data, was hosted on a collaborative platform and then compiled into an exposed app, ThreatNG would detect these embedded secrets.

• Search Engine Exploitation:

• Website Control Files: Discovers robots.txt and security.txt files, identifying secure directories, user directories, email directories, and API directories. ThreatNG would identify if robots.txt inadvertently exposes sensitive directories on a code hosting platform, or if security.txt contains crucial security contact information.

• Search Engine Attack Surface: Helps investigate susceptibility to exposing errors, sensitive information, public passwords, and susceptible files via search engines. ThreatNG could reveal if search engines have indexed sensitive files or directories related to collaborative code hosting platforms, making them publicly discoverable.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Identifies sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud services, impersonations, and exposed cloud buckets (AWS, Azure, GCP). It also assesses SaaS implementations for business intelligence, collaboration, content management, CRM, customer service, data analytics, endpoint management, ERP, HR, identity and access management, incident management, project management, video conferencing, and work operating systems. This is crucial for organizations using cloud-hosted code platforms or integrating them with various SaaS tools. ThreatNG could detect an unsanctioned cloud storage bucket where code backups are stored without proper security, or an exposed Salesforce instance linked to development projects.

• Online Sharing Exposure: This indicator identifies an organizational entity's presence on platforms like Pastebin, GitHub Gist, Scribd, Slideshare, Prezi, and GitHub Code. ThreatNG would find instances where sensitive code snippets or project details from collaborative platforms have been shared publicly on these sites.

• Sentiment and Financials: Monitors lawsuits, layoff chatter, SEC filings, and ESG Violations. While not directly code-related, if a data breach from a code hosting platform leads to legal action or negative financial impacts, ThreatNG would identify these signals.

• Archived Web Pages: Identifies archived web pages containing APIs, documents, emails, login pages, and user names. This can reveal historical code exposures or credentials related to code hosting platforms on web pages.

• Dark Web Presence: Monitors organizational mentions, ransomware events, and compromised credentials on the dark web. This is critical for detecting if developer credentials or code-related information have been compromised and are being traded on the dark web.

• Technology Stack: Identifies technologies used by the organization, including web servers, databases, and development platforms. This helps understand the underlying infrastructure supporting collaborative code hosting platforms and identify potential vulnerabilities in those technologies.

Intelligence Repositories (DarCache): ThreatNG's intelligence repositories provide continuously updated threat intelligence:

• Dark Web (DarCache Dark Web): Provides insight into general dark web activity related to the organization.

• Compromised Credentials (DarCache Rupture): Continuously tracks compromised credentials. This is highly relevant as stolen developer credentials are a primary vector for attacks on code hosting platforms. ThreatNG would alert if a developer's credentials are found to be compromised.

• Ransomware Groups and Activities (DarCache Ransomware): Tracks over 70 ransomware gangs. This helps assess the risk of ransomware attacks impacting development environments and code repositories.

• Vulnerabilities (DarCache Vulnerability): Provides a holistic and proactive approach to managing external risks by understanding real-world exploitability, likelihood of exploitation, and potential impact. This includes:

• NVD (DarCache NVD): Offers detailed information on vulnerabilities, including attack complexity, attack vector, and impact scores. ThreatNG would identify known vulnerabilities in software used for code hosting platforms (e.g., a specific version of GitLab or Bitbucket) and assess their severity.

• EPSS (DarCache EPSS): Provides a probabilistic estimate of the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited shortly. This helps prioritize remediation efforts for severe vulnerabilities in code hosting platforms that are likely to be weaponized.

• KEV (DarCache KEV): Focuses on vulnerabilities actively being exploited in the wild. ThreatNG would flag if a zero-day exploit targeting a code hosting platform is known and actively used by attackers.

• Verified Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Exploits (DarCache eXploit): Provides direct links to PoC exploits on platforms like GitHub, referenced by CVE. This is highly valuable for security teams to understand how a vulnerability in their code hosting platform can be exploited, assess its impact, and develop effective mitigation strategies.

• ESG Violations (DarCache ESG): Tracks various ESG-related offenses.

• Bug Bounty Programs (DarCach Bug Bounty): Indicates in-scope and out-of-scope items. This could help identify if a bug bounty program is in place for an organization's code hosting platform, indicating a proactive security stance.

• SEC Form 8-Ks (DarCache 8-K): Monitors SEC filings for relevant security disclosures.

• Mobile Apps (DarCache Mobile): Indicates the presence of access credentials, security credentials, and platform-specific identifiers within mobile apps.

Working with Complementary Solutions: While ThreatNG is an all-in-one solution, its capabilities can be further enhanced by working with complementary solutions to provide a more robust security posture for collaborative code hosting platforms.

• Identity and Access Management (IAM) Solutions (e.g., Okta, Azure Active Directory): ThreatNG's ability to identify compromised credentials through DarCache Rupture and its BEC & Phishing Susceptibility assessment would directly complement an IAM solution. Suppose ThreatNG identifies a developer's compromised credentials on the dark web. In that case, it can trigger an alert within the IAM system to force a password reset and initiate multi-factor authentication (MFA) challenges, preventing unauthorized access to code repositories. For example, if ThreatNG detects a developer's GitHub credentials exposed, it could notify the IAM solution to revoke existing sessions and require re-authentication with MFA.

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Tools: ThreatNG's Code Secret Exposure module, which investigates code repositories for sensitive data, and its identification of Known Vulnerabilities in the technology stack can synergize with SAST and DAST tools. ThreatNG can identify exposed repositories and the underlying technologies. At the same time, SAST tools can then analyze the code for vulnerabilities within the repository, and DAST tools can test the running application for vulnerabilities accessible externally. For instance, ThreatNG might discover a public Git repository. Then, SAST tools integrated into the CI/CD pipeline can scan the code for SQL injection vulnerabilities before deployment, while DAST tools can test the deployed application for similar flaws.

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems: ThreatNG's continuous monitoring capabilities and various assessment ratings can feed valuable security intelligence into a SIEM. The SIEM can ingest alerts from ThreatNG regarding new code exposures, subdomain takeover susceptibility, or detected ransomware activity, allowing security teams to correlate these external threats with internal logs and events, providing a holistic view of the security posture. For example, suppose ThreatNG identifies a sensitive API key exposed in a GitHub Gist. In that case, this information can be sent to the SIEM, which can then cross-reference it with internal access logs to determine if the key has been used maliciously.

• Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Tools: ThreatNG's Cloud and SaaS Exposure module, which identifies exposed cloud services and SaaS implementations, directly complements CSPM tools. ThreatNG can identify misconfigurations or exposures from an external attacker's perspective. At the same time, a CSPM tool provides deeper insights into the internal configuration and compliance of cloud environments where code repositories might be hosted. For instance, ThreatNG might detect an open AWS S3 bucket, and a CSPM tool can then provide details on the bucket's permissions and compliance with security best practices.

• Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Solutions: ThreatNG's ability to identify sensitive code exposure and online sharing exposure can work with DLP solutions. ThreatNG identifies if sensitive data has been exposed externally, while DLP solutions can prevent that data from leaving the organization's controlled environment in the first place. For example, ThreatNG might detect a developer accidentally committing a file containing customer data to a public GitHub repository; a DLP solution could have prevented this commit by scanning the content before it left the internal network.