Information Disclosure: Confidentiality Threats

Information disclosure threats involve unauthorized access to confidential data. These threats range from dramatic mass data breaches to subtle information leaks through side channels. As data becomes increasingly valuable and regulated, protecting against information disclosure has become a primary focus of threat modeling efforts.

Direct information disclosure might occur through database breaches exposing customer records, inadequate access controls revealing sensitive documents, error messages leaking system information, or backup files left accessible on public servers. Each represents a failure of confidentiality controls that threat modeling should identify and address.

Indirect information disclosure often proves more challenging to identify and prevent. Timing attacks might reveal password lengths or encryption keys. Error message differences could indicate valid versus invalid usernames. API responses might leak data through overly verbose outputs. Log files could contain sensitive information inadvertently included by developers. Metadata in documents might reveal internal information. These subtle leaks require careful analysis to identify and mitigate.

Modern systems face novel information disclosure risks through advanced attacks. Side-channel attacks exploit physical characteristics like power consumption or electromagnetic emissions. Machine learning models might memorize and reveal training data. Aggregation attacks combine multiple non-sensitive data points to infer sensitive information. Cloud environments risk cross-tenant data leakage through shared resources. Protecting against these sophisticated threats requires understanding both your data sensitivity and potential attack techniques.