Development Email Accounts

In the context of cybersecurity, development email accounts are non-human accounts used by software developers, tools, and processes within the software development lifecycle (SDLC). These accounts are crucial for automation, collaboration, and communication related to code, testing, and deployment. Examples include accounts for continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, code repositories like Git, and build automation servers like Jenkins.

Development email accounts pose a significant cybersecurity risk because they often possess elevated privileges necessary to access and manipulate source code, build artifacts, and deployment environments. If an attacker compromises one of these accounts, they could inject malicious code into a product, access intellectual property, or use the account to move laterally within the network. These accounts are often less visible than human user accounts, making them a "blind spot" for security teams. The lack of standard security practices, such as routine credential rotation or multi-factor authentication, further increases their vulnerability to attacks like phishing and credential theft.

ThreatNG helps with development email accounts by providing a unique external perspective on their security risks, which are often overlooked in internal security practices. By focusing on what's visible from the outside, ThreatNG can proactively identify and mitigate vulnerabilities associated with these accounts.

External Discovery and Assessment

ThreatNG's external discovery engine operates without needing any credentials or connectors. It finds publicly exposed emails associated with development, such as git, docker, jenkins, devops, and terraform. Once found, the platform assesses them for various risks.

• Code Secret Exposure: This is a crucial assessment for development emails. ThreatNG discovers public code repositories and investigates them for the presence of sensitive data.

  • Example: ThreatNG might scan a public GitHub repository and find a jenkins-build@example.com email address embedded in a configuration file along with a plaintext access token. This finding would be a significant contribution to the organization's Code Secret Exposure score, highlighting a critical risk that could lead to unauthorized access to the CI/CD pipeline.

• Data Leak Susceptibility: The platform's assessment of data leak susceptibility is derived from its findings on Dark Web Presence and Compromised Credentials. If a development email is discovered in a data dump on the dark web, it increases this score.

  • Example: ThreatNG finds the email devops@example.com in a database of compromised credentials, indicating that an attacker may have its login information and could try to use it to gain access to internal systems.

• Breach & Ransomware Susceptibility: This assessment considers factors like exposed sensitive ports and known vulnerabilities, which can be directly tied to the systems managed by development emails.

Continuous Monitoring and Reporting

ThreatNG provides continuous monitoring of the external attack surface, ensuring that any new exposure of a development email is detected in real-time. This is essential as developers frequently push code and can inadvertently expose sensitive information.

The platform's reporting capabilities provide a clear and prioritized view of these risks.

• Example: A Prioritized report would flag an exposed git email address as a high-risk finding, providing the reasoning behind the score and offering clear recommendations for remediation, such as removing the email from the public repository or rotating the credentials. The Technical report would provide specific details on the finding, including the exact URL where it was found.

Investigation Modules and Intelligence Repositories

ThreatNG's investigation modules enable a deeper examination of the context surrounding exposed emails. The Sensitive Code Exposure module is efficient here, as it can pinpoint the exact repository and file where an email like terraform-svc@example.com was found. The Archived Web Pages module can also uncover older instances of exposed development emails that may have been removed but are still accessible through web archives.

ThreatNG's Intelligence Repositories (DarCache) provide a continuously updated source of threat data.

• DarCache Rupture contains a database of compromised credentials, allowing ThreatNG to cross-reference any discovered development email addresses to see if they have been part of a previous data breach.

• DarCache Vulnerability provides intelligence on vulnerabilities, including links to verified Proof-of-Concept (PoC) exploits on platforms like GitHub. This can show how a system managed by a development email (e.g., Jenkins) could be exploited.

Complementary Solutions

ThreatNG's external intelligence can be leveraged in conjunction with complementary solutions to enhance security throughout the development lifecycle.

• With a Developer Security Platform: When ThreatNG flags a docker-svc@example.com email in a public repository, a developer security platform can automatically scan the repository for other secrets and send an alert directly to the development team, helping them remediate the issue within their existing workflow.

• With a Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Solution: An exposed devops email with elevated cloud permissions can be a critical finding from ThreatNG. A complementary CSPM solution could then automatically audit the cloud environment to identify any over-privileged accounts or misconfigurations related to that email, and either automatically remediate them or create a high-priority ticket.

• With a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) System: A high-risk alert from ThreatNG about a git email being found in a credential dump could be ingested by a SIEM. The SIEM could then correlate this external finding with internal log data to identify any unauthorized login attempts or code checkouts from that specific account, providing a comprehensive view of the threat.