Overview
This case study highlights how a proactive manual code review led to the discovery of a critical security issue and how coordinated incident response actions helped mitigate risk while strengthening long-term secure coding practices.
Challenge
During a routine manual code review, the security team identified a hard-coded password that was reused across multiple environments, including a higher classification domain. This represented a serious security risk with potential cross-domain exposure if not immediately addressed.
Response
Upon discovery, the issue was escalated immediately to leadership and relevant technical stakeholders. A tabletop discussion was convened to assess risk, coordinate response actions, and ensure alignment across teams. Remediation efforts included rotating and securing passwords across all affected domains, coordinating containment actions with the production team, and notifying required monitoring and oversight authorities. Documentation and internal procedures were updated to reflect lessons learned and prevent recurrence.
Outcome
The incident was successfully contained, and all exposed credentials were secured. Beyond immediate remediation, the engagement resulted in improved manual code review processes, enhanced internal and external reporting capabilities, and strengthened collaboration with software developers and engineers. As part of the remediation effort, development teams adopted improved coding practices, including eliminating the use of hard-coded passwords and reinforcing secure credential management standards moving forward.
Recommended Services
Vulnerability Management Advisory
