One of our clients, a company specializing in financial technologies, develops cloud solutions for startups and medium-sized businesses. It operates in a highly sensitive area where personal data management is crucial, and the potential harm from a data breach can be catastrophic. Why is this so critical? Because for such businesses, trust and reputation are foundational. When trust is fragile, almost everything else becomes insignificant.
The company itself is sizable, with over 100 employees and website traffic exceeding 80,000 users per month. Their web infrastructure consists of two main domains and 12 subdomains (this information was obtained during our scan).
At first glance, this may not seem like an unmanageable structure for a fintech company of this scale. And in some cases, you’d be right. If resources are allocated effectively to monitor potential threats, invest in training, growth, and the latest software, it’s entirely feasible to manage. But what happens when those resources are limited, or the focus is shifted toward business growth rather than internal security management?
Now, let’s dive into the story. With the scale of the infrastructure in mind, here’s how we tested their systems for potential threats — from a hacker’s perspective, of course 😉:
1. Subdomain Identification:
We began by identifying all subdomains associated with the company. One stood out with a peculiar name: something like dev.123local.s34.site.com. It might seem obscure enough to go unnoticed or unassociated with the main website, but assuming this offers security is, frankly, naïve.
2. Automated Scanning:
We launched our system to test more than 9,000 patterns for vulnerabilities. And this was just the automated scan. Imagine what we could uncover with a comprehensive manual deep scan.
3. The Bingo Moment:
Jackpot! On the subdomain with the tricky name, we discovered an exposed admin panel. To make matters worse, it had hard-coded credentials (login and password) embedded by the developers, allowing anyone to log in.
Created by imageresizer
Why This is Terrifying
This vulnerability posed a critical risk due to its ease of exploitation and potential impact. By accessing the admin panel, even an unskilled attacker (a so-called script kiddie) could wreak havoc. Here’s what such a person could do:
- View and modify confidential data;
- Perform unauthorized actions, such as downloading or deleting files;- Spread malware through the compromised infrastructure;
- And much more.
The ease of access and high potential for harm made this vulnerability extremely dangerous.
Our Solution
At the end of our work, we compiled a comprehensive report detailing the entire infrastructure, areas for improvement, and, most importantly, a full classification and description of all identified vulnerabilities. This report empowered the client to resolve the critical threat swiftly and prevent further risks.
Why Our Reports Stand Out
Our reports are so detailed and well-structured that developers can understand them without the need to hire additional cybersecurity experts. This enables companies to address vulnerabilities quickly and effectively, saving time and resources.
Created by imageresizer
Happy End
The Bigger Picture
Every business is a dynamic structure, constantly exposed to potential threats. The choice is yours: manage everything yourself, potentially slowing down growth by allocating resources to every aspect of your infrastructure, or focus on what you do best and drive growth by delegating specific tasks to a team of experts.
