GitHub Abuse Flaw Shows Why We Can't Shrug Off Abuse Vulnerabilities in Security
May 13, 2024
Security has always been a game of risk management, not risk elimination. Every decision to address one threat means potentially leaving another unattended. That deciding of which threat to address – and in what order – is the name of the game. In this triage process, abuse vulnerabilities, i.e. , exploiting legitimate features of a platform in unintended ways to conduct digital misdeeds such as phishing campaigns, can get pushed down the priority list of security issues. I would like to argue that it's time we stop separating the concept of abuse vulnerabilities and security vulnerabilities. Unlike security vulnerabilities that are, in essence, exploited loopholes or bugs in the code, fixes for abuse vulnerabilities can be slow to come. Yet these openings for abuse can easily lead to disaster if left unattended. Recent figures show that 68% of breaches originate from these exact types of exploitations involving the human element making a mistake such as phishing attempts or abu