cerrar
cerrar
Su red del mañana
Su red del mañana
Planifique su camino hacia una red más rápida, más segura y más resistente diseñada para las aplicaciones y los usuarios a los que da soporte.
          Descubra Netskope
          Ponte manos a la obra con la plataforma Netskope
          Esta es su oportunidad de experimentar de primera mano la Netskope One plataforma de una sola nube. Regístrese para participar en laboratorios prácticos a su propio ritmo, únase a nosotros para una demostración mensual del producto en vivo, realice una prueba de manejo gratuita de Netskope Private Accesso únase a nosotros para talleres en vivo dirigidos por instructores.
            Líder en SSE. Ahora es líder en SASE de un solo proveedor.
            Líder en SSE. Ahora es líder en SASE de un solo proveedor.
            Netskope debuta como Líder en el Cuadrante Mágico™ de Gartner® para Single-Vendor SASE
              Protección de la IA generativa para principiantes
              Protección de la IA generativa para principiantes
              Descubra cómo su organización puede equilibrar el potencial innovador de la IA generativa con sólidas prácticas de seguridad de Datos.
                Prevención de pérdida de datos (DLP) moderna para dummies eBook
                Prevención moderna de pérdida de datos (DLP) para Dummies
                Obtenga consejos y trucos para la transición a una DLP entregada en la nube.
                  Libro SD-WAN moderno para principiantes de SASE
                  SD-WAN moderna para maniquíes SASE
                  Deje de ponerse al día con su arquitectura de red
                    Entendiendo dónde está el riesgo
                    Advanced Analytics transforma la forma en que los equipos de operaciones de seguridad aplican los conocimientos basados en datos para implementar una mejor política. Con Advanced Analytics, puede identificar tendencias, concentrarse en las áreas de preocupación y usar los datos para tomar medidas.
                        Los 6 casos de uso más convincentes para el reemplazo completo de VPN heredada
                        Los 6 casos de uso más convincentes para el reemplazo completo de VPN heredada
                        Netskope One Private Access es la única solución que le permite retirar su VPN para siempre.
                          Colgate-Palmolive Salvaguarda su "Propiedad Intelectual" con Protección de Datos Inteligente y Adaptable
                          Colgate-Palmolive Salvaguarda su "Propiedad Intelectual" con Protección de Datos Inteligente y Adaptable
                            Netskope GovCloud
                            Netskope logra la alta autorización FedRAMP
                            Elija Netskope GovCloud para acelerar la transformación de su agencia.
                              Hagamos grandes cosas juntos
                              La estrategia de venta centrada en el partner de Netskope permite a nuestros canales maximizar su expansión y rentabilidad y, al mismo tiempo, transformar la seguridad de su empresa.
                                Soluciones Netskope
                                Netskope Cloud Exchange
                                Netskope Cloud Exchange (CE) proporciona a los clientes potentes herramientas de integración para aprovechar las inversiones en su postura de seguridad.
                                  Soporte técnico Netskope
                                  Soporte técnico Netskope
                                  Nuestros ingenieros de soporte cualificados ubicados en todo el mundo y con distintos ámbitos de conocimiento sobre seguridad en la nube, redes, virtualización, entrega de contenidos y desarrollo de software, garantizan una asistencia técnica de calidad en todo momento
                                    Vídeo de Netskope
                                    Netskope Training
                                    La formación de Netskope le ayudará a convertirse en un experto en seguridad en la nube. Estamos aquí para ayudarle a proteger su proceso de transformación digital y aprovechar al máximo sus aplicaciones cloud, web y privadas.

                                      Leaky Images: Accidental Exposure and Malware in Google Photos and Hangouts

                                      Sep 29 2020

                                      Did you know that the default link sharing option in Google Photos allows anyone with the link to view the files and all images shared in Google Hangouts that are publicly accessible? In this edition of our leaky app series, we will cover how image link sharing in Google Hangouts and Google Photos can lead to the accidental public exposure of sensitive data. We will also look at the threat detection capabilities of Google Photos and Google Hangouts. Whereas files uploaded to Google Drive are scanned for malicious content, no such scanning occurs in Photos or Hangouts. 

                                      This post is part of a series highlighting data exposure concerns in Google Calendar, Google Groups, Google link sharing, Zendesk, and O365 link sharing. We will highlight the exposure concerns, detection gaps in Google services, Netskope’s CTEP capability, and a method for data exfiltration.

                                      Google Hangouts

                                      In Google Hangouts, users can share images and videos alongside their chat conversations. Every image shared in Google Hangouts generates a public link, as shown in Figure 1.

                                      Screenshot of link sharing options for images in Google Hangouts
                                      Figure 1: Google Hangouts image links

                                      The generated link is accessible to anyone without any authentication. On top of this, the link remains valid indefinitely, unless the image is deleted from the Google Album Archive.  Furthermore, this is true even of images uploaded when the “conversation history” is disabled. Even though the conversation itself is not retained, the images shared while the history is disabled are.

                                      Google Photos

                                      Alongside Google Hangouts, Google Photos also allows users to upload and share photos and videos. The photos and videos shared have the default permission to let anyone with the link to see the photos or albums as shown in Figure 2.

                                      Screenshot showing the default link sharing settings for Google Photos
                                      Figure 2: Google Photos default link sharing option

                                      Google Photos also allows a user to share the photos to selected people, share via Facebook and Twitter, and copy links as shown in Figure 3.

                                      Screenshot of the sharing options for Google Photos
                                      Figure 3: Google Photo sharing options

                                      When you use “copy link” and share the link, you relinquish control over who can access your files—anyone who gets their hands on a link can access a file, whether you intended them to or not. We recommend sharing sensitive images only to specific users or uploading the files to Google Drive with restricted link sharing as an alternative to avoid accidental exposure.

                                      Google Hangouts and Google Photos link sharing 

                                      The default link sharing settings in Google Hangouts and Google Photos can lead to accidental exposure of sensitive internal data to the public Internet. The links these services generate can be accessed by anyone and do not require authentication. Though this won’t make the data indexable by search engines, it can likely pose exposure concerns in the following ways:

                                      • Anyone, inside or outside of your domain, with whom you didn’t intend to share the image, can access the image if they get their hands on the link.
                                      • Users within your organization can continue to access the images after they leave.

                                      To take it a step further, a malicious insider can share snapshots of private keys, passwords, tokens, or sensitive documents. Because these are public links, they can be downloaded by anyone at any time with little audit trail, making them a useful channel for data exfiltration.

                                      When sharing sensitive content, we recommend restricting access to specific users in Google Photos to avoid accidental exposure. Users should not share sensitive information via  Hangouts or via the “copy link” option in Google Photos. Any sensitive images already shared via Hangouts can be deleted from the Google Album Archive and any public links can be removed in Google Photos. Netskope customers can create DLP rules to detect sensitive images that contain x-rays, passports, and other sensitive information, to prevent them from being uploaded to such apps.

                                      Threat detection in Google Hangouts and Google Photos

                                      As Google Hangouts and Google Photos provide file hosting via public and unauthenticated links, they can potentially be used to spread malware. Techniques used by attackers to embed malicious content images without affecting their appearance include:

                                      Google Photos and Google Hangouts do not contain any native threat detection capabilities. We tested this detection capability by uploading and sharing a variety of malicious image files. To our surprise, none of the malicious files were detected or blocked by either service. An example of a malicious gif file uploaded to Google Hangouts is shown in Figure 4.

                                      Screenshot showing malicious gif file uploaded to Google Hangouts
                                      Figure 4: Malicious gif file uploaded to Google Hangouts

                                      By comparison, the same files were detected by Google Drive. An example of one such alert is shown in Figure 5.

                                      Screenshot showing Gooogle Drive detecting a malicious file
                                      Figure 5: Google Drive detecting a malicious file

                                      This clearly illustrates that the threat detection offered by Google varies from service-to-service. Netskope customers are protected from malicious content regardless of cloud app or service.  An example of an alert generated by Netskope for the same image hosted in Google Hangouts is shown in Figure 6. Netskope CTEP detected the malicious embedded VB Script and blocked the image.

                                      Screenshot showing Google Hangouts detection of the malicious image by Netskope
                                      Figure 6: Google Hangouts detection of the malicious image by Netskope

                                      Conclusion

                                      This edition of our leaky cloud apps series provided a detailed synopsis of how confidential information can get leaked through Google Hangouts and Google Photos leading to public exposure. The data can be copied, reused, and leveraged by adversaries and insiders to gain access to additional data and infrastructure. We recommend auditing link sharing options and restricting access to specific users in Google Photos to avoid accidental exposure. Users should not share sensitive images via Hangouts and/or via the “copy link” option in Google Photos.

                                      Alongside the exposure concerns, we also detailed a detection gap in Google Photos and Hangouts, Netskope’s CTEP capability, and a method for data exfiltration. Cloud service providers have their own security controls, but they vary from service-to-service. Organizations need to have a threat protection service that works consistently across cloud apps to ensure they are fully protected. Netskope’s DLP and threat solutions detect sensitive images to prevent unwanted data exposure and provide comprehensive threat protection for all the cloud apps and services used by the enterprise.

                                      author image
                                      Ashwin Vamshi
                                      Ashwin Vamshi is a Security Researcher with innate interest in targeted attacks and malwares using cloud services.
                                      Ashwin Vamshi is a Security Researcher with innate interest in targeted attacks and malwares using cloud services.

                                      ¡Mantente informado!

                                      Suscríbase para recibir lo último del blog de Netskope