Sensitive Data Exposure
Sensitive data exposure is transmitting or storing sensitive data unencrypted, or leaking keys/credentials, letting attackers obtain plaintext.
Purpose
To understand full-lifecycle data protection risks and defenses; an OWASP Top 10 vulnerability.
Mechanism
Flaws include sending sensitive data over HTTP, storing passwords in plaintext, hard-coded keys, error messages leaking stack traces, and APIs returning too many fields. Defenses: TLS, encrypted storage, hashed passwords, minimal returned fields.
Use cases
- Data protection audit
- Encrypted transport and storage
- Key management