Why token theft is the next big threat

As the security landscape continues to evolve, token theft has emerged as a significant threat to modern cloud environments. Tokens, which are used to authenticate and authorize users, have become valuable targets for attackers due to their ability to grant access to critical systems. When a token is stolen, it allows the attacker to impersonate the legitimate user and access sensitive data or resources, often without immediate detection. Token theft also bypasses any strong authentication methods you may have implemented, because the token gets created as a result of such (possibly strong) authentication. While browsers are making efforts to bind tokens to specific instances, we still have a long way to go, and token theft is going to be a problem in the near term.

Token theft generally results in a user demonstrating abnormal behavior (because the token is being used by the attacker). For tokens issued to humans, this includes “impossible travel” situations where the same token is being used from different IP addresses that are geographically far apart, or lateral movement across a large number of applications or systems, or heightened activity within an application or system. Even if a system (e.g. XDR, or an application’s threat monitoring feature) finds out about such abnormal behavior, there was no way to communicate it immediately to other systems - until now.

In response to this rising threat, the Continuous Access Evaluation Profile (CAEP) offers a dynamic solution. By enabling real-time monitoring and response, CAEP enables the revocation or modification access as soon as suspicious activity is detected, preventing attackers from exploiting stolen tokens. Services like SGNL’s CAEP Hub can leverage CAEP-defined events to dynamically modify or revoke access based on real-time security assessments.

The Growing Threat of Token Theft

Token-based authentication has become the standard in many organizations, particularly in environments that use Single Sign-On (SSO) or multi-cloud architectures, relying on protocols such as OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, or JSON Web Tokens (JWT), among others, to manage secure access across diverse systems. While this approach simplifies user access across systems, it also creates a significant vulnerability. Tokens, once issued, can grant broad access to resources, and those tokens can become powerful tools for attackers.

The problem with traditional token-based systems is that tokens are often valid for a predetermined period and provide access to various systems without requiring reauthentication. If a token is compromised during this window, attackers can use it to gain unfettered access to sensitive data, move laterally across the network, and carry out malicious actions.

The Limitations of Traditional Token-Based Authentication

Traditional token-based authentication systems are limited in their ability to respond to token theft in real time. Tokens are typically issued with fixed lifetimes, and once they are granted, there is little oversight or evaluation of how they are being used. This static nature of token management is problematic for several reasons:

• Overpowered Tokens: Tokens often provide more access than necessary, granting broad privileges that can be abused if stolen.
• Delayed Revocation: Even when a token is compromised, revoking it across distributed systems can be a slow and manual process, allowing attackers time to carry out their objectives.
• No Continuous Monitoring: Without real-time monitoring of token usage, it’s difficult to detect suspicious activity until after the damage has been done.

There needs to be a more dynamic and responsive approach to managing tokens in cloud environments.

How CAEP Can Mitigate Token Theft

CAEP enables a solution to the challenges of token-based authentication by introducing real-time access evaluation. By defining a set of event-types that conform to the Shared Signals Framework, CAEP allows cooperating providers to exchange security signals in real time. These signals can trigger actions such as modifying or revoking access, based on the current security state of the session.

Let’s look at some examples:

1. Real-Time Access Evaluation: CAEP facilitates continuous evaluation of the security state by enabling providers to share real-time signals. For example, if a cooperating provider detects suspicious activity, such as unusual access patterns, it triggers an event. This event signals other providers to take action, such as revoking or limiting access, preventing an attacker from exploiting a stolen token.
2. Dynamic Response to Security Threats: Traditional token-based systems are static, but CAEP enables a dynamic response to emerging threats. By receiving signals from other providers in the network, services like SGNL’s CAEP Hub can act immediately, propagating the event to various systems that support CAEP, or using proprietary integrations to either revoke or reduce the scope of session permissions. This real-time response is crucial in limiting the damage caused by stolen tokens.
3. Minimizing Standing Access: If systems have implemented CAEP, they can typically reduce any standing access provided to users because session properties can be dynamically altered as required by receiving CAEP events. CAEP helps reduce the risks associated with standing access by ensuring that sessions are continuously evaluated and adjusted based on real-time conditions. When a task is completed, CAEP-driven actions can revoke or modify session permissions, ensuring that tokens only provide access when absolutely necessary. This reduces the potential damage from token theft, as stolen tokens become much less valuable if their access is quickly revoked.

How Standing Access Fuels Token Theft

The combination of standing access and token-based authentication is particularly dangerous because it makes tokens far more powerful than they need to be. Attackers are drawn to these tokens because they offer a way to bypass traditional security measures and gain persistent access to systems. When tokens are not promptly revoked or their scope is not limited, they can grant attackers access to:

• Sensitive systems across cloud environments.
• Critical data repositories that contain valuable information.
• Privileged accounts that can be used to further escalate attacks.

The persistence of standing access amplifies the impact of token theft, making it essential for organizations to adopt solutions like CAEP that can dynamically adjust access in real time.

Protecting Against Token Theft with CAEP

As token theft continues to rise as a serious security threat, organizations must adopt more dynamic approaches to token-based authentication. CAEP provides a powerful solution for ensuring that access is continuously evaluated and adjusted in real time. Having CAEP also enables standing access to systems to be minimized. By enabling cooperating providers to share security signals, CAEP allows services like SGNL’s CAEP Hub to revoke or modify access dynamically, reducing the potential damage caused by token theft.

Token-based authentication is ubiquitous. CAEP offers a critical layer of protection, ensuring that tokens are only as powerful as they need to be and that their access is limited to what’s necessary in real time. This makes CAEP an essential tool in defending against token theft and maintaining strong access security across multi-cloud environments.