Top business software development platform Retool breached, blames Google Authenticator

Software improvement level Retool has pointed nan digit of blasted astatine Google aft suffering a information breach.

Here’s what happened: a hacking corporate engaged successful SMS phishing and societal engineering managed to bargain login credentials for an Okta relationship belonging to a Retool IT employee. It was rather an elaborate scheme, too, arsenic it included creating a clone soul personality portal for Retool and impersonating an worker successful bid to person nan unfortunate stock their multi-factor authentication (MFA) code. 

But fixed that nan institution utilized Google’s MFA tool, Authenticator, Retool’s caput of engineering, Snir Kodesh, says it’s each Google’s fault. The hunt motor behemoth precocious introduced a caller characteristic successful Authenticator, which allows users to beryllium logged into nan instrumentality connected aggregate endpoints. This enabled nan attackers to instrumentality their measurement into Authenticator, and yet - Okta.

Account takeover

"With these codes (and nan Okta session), nan attacker gained entree to our VPN, and crucially, our soul admin systems," BleepingComputer cited Kodesh saying. "This allowed them to tally an relationship takeover onslaught connected a circumstantial group of customers (all successful nan crypto industry). (They changed emails for users and reset passwords.) After taking complete their accounts, nan attacker poked astir immoderate of nan Retool apps."

"We powerfully judge that Google should either destruct their acheronian patterns successful Google Authenticator (which encourages nan redeeming of MFA codes successful nan cloud), aliases astatine slightest supply organizations pinch nan expertise to disable it."

Google, connected nan different hand, was comparatively mild successful its response. It reminded Kodesh that nan synchronization characteristic is optional, and suggested they move from passwords to much unafraid authentication methods, specified arsenic passkeys:

"Our first privilege is nan information and information of each online users, whether user aliases enterprise, and this arena is different illustration of why we stay dedicated to improving our authentication technologies. Beyond this, we besides proceed to promote nan move toward safer authentication technologies arsenic a whole, specified arsenic passkeys, which are phishing resistant," a Google spokesperson told BleepingComputer.

"Phishing and societal engineering risks pinch bequest authentication technologies, for illustration ones based connected OTP, are why nan manufacture is heavy investing successful these FIDO-based technologies," nan Google spokesperson said.

"While we proceed to activity toward these changes, we want to guarantee Google Authenticator users cognize they person a prime whether to sync their OTPs to their Google Account, aliases to support them stored only locally. In nan meantime, we'll proceed to activity connected balancing information pinch usability arsenic we see early improvements to Google Authenticator."

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