Intellectual Property Exposure

5 automated security scanners

Trade Secret Litigation Exposure

Purpose: The Trade Secret Litigation Exposure Scanner is designed to identify and expose proprietary security measures, custom control details, and specialized implementations that may be inadvertently disclosed through public records and open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources. This tool helps organizations assess the risk of trade secret litigation by uncovering sensitive information that could be misused or disclosed.

What It Detects:

Breach Mentions: Identifies mentions of data breaches, security incidents, unauthorized access, and compromised systems in public records.
Tech Stack Disclosure: Discovers disclosures of specific technology stacks, tools, and platforms used by the company in job postings and LinkedIn profiles.
Certification Claims: Identifies claims of certifications and compliance standards that may indicate strong security measures as mentioned in SEC filings.
Subdomain Discovery: Discovers subdomains that host sensitive information or services using Certificate Transparency logs.
GitHub Code Search: Searches for proprietary code, security measures, and custom control details in public repositories on GitHub.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): The primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): The company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: Identifying potential trade secret litigation risks is crucial as it helps organizations safeguard their intellectual property and competitive advantages from unauthorized disclosure or misuse. This proactive approach can mitigate legal challenges and protect the company’s reputation and financial interests.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions that directly lead to significant harm, such as severe data breaches or public exposure of proprietary technology details.
High: Conditions that could lead to substantial harm, such as unauthorized access to sensitive information or public disclosure of critical systems.
Medium: Conditions that may lead to moderate harm, involving the discovery of less sensitive security practices or technical specifications.
Low: Informative findings that do not pose immediate risks but can provide valuable insights for strategic planning and continuous improvement in security measures.
Info: Non-critical disclosures that are generally safe but still informative about the company’s technological footprint and compliance status.

Example Findings:

The scanner might flag a mention of an unreported data breach, which could be critical if it involves sensitive customer information.
It might detect a disclosure of internal tools like Terraform or Docker, which are proprietary and not widely known, indicating high risk for intellectual property theft.
A SOC 2 Type II certification claim would be considered high risk as it indicates strong security measures but is publicly disclosed.
Subdomains discovered could range from informational (like developer tools) to critical if they host sensitive applications or databases.

Copyright Infringement Evidence

Purpose: The Copyright Infringement Evidence Scanner is designed to identify potential intellectual property leaks by detecting the exposure of source code, configuration files, and scripts through public repositories, job boards, news articles, and other publicly available sources. This helps in identifying potential legal issues related to intellectual property theft.

What It Detects:

Source Code Exposure: Identifies publicly accessible source code repositories on platforms like GitHub, searching for specific file types such as .py, .js, .java, etc., that may contain sensitive information.
Configuration File Disclosure: Looks for configuration files (e.g., .env, config.json) that might be inadvertently exposed in public repositories, detecting patterns indicative of sensitive data like API keys, database credentials, and other confidential information.
Script Revelations: Scans for scripts that may contain proprietary algorithms or business logic, identifying script files (e.g., .sh, .bat) that could reveal internal processes or methodologies.
Subdomain Discovery: Utilizes Certificate Transparency logs to discover subdomains that might host sensitive information, checking these subdomains for exposed source code, configuration files, and scripts.
Breach History and Security Incidents: Searches through news articles, job boards, and SEC filings for mentions of data breaches or security incidents, identifying patterns indicating potential exposure of intellectual property.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: Identifying the exposure of source code, configuration files, and scripts through public repositories can significantly impact a company’s security posture by preventing potential intellectual property leaks that could lead to legal issues and financial losses.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions where critical findings are identified, such as highly sensitive data exposed in publicly accessible repositories or major breaches disclosed in SEC filings.
High: Conditions where high-risk findings are detected, such as exposure of proprietary algorithms or business logic through scripts and configuration files containing confidential information.
Medium: Conditions where medium-risk findings are present, indicating potential exposure of sensitive data without direct impact on critical systems but still requiring attention to mitigate risks.
Low: Conditions with low-risk findings, which may include minor exposures of non-critical data or patterns that do not directly compromise intellectual property.
Info: Informal findings that provide supplementary information about the environment and can be used for continuous monitoring and improvement.

Example Findings:

Sensitive data found in a publicly accessible configuration file within a GitHub repository, potentially leading to unauthorized access of internal systems and confidential information.
Subdomain hosting sensitive source code or configuration files exposed without proper security measures, increasing the risk of intellectual property theft.

Licensing Dispute Documentation

Purpose: The Licensing Dispute Documentation Scanner is designed to analyze public records and online sources to detect integration details, third-party security components, implementation specifics, and licensing disputes related to a company’s technology stack. This tool helps identify potential intellectual property exposure and compliance issues.

What It Detects:

Integration Details: The scanner identifies mentions of specific integration points with third-party services and detects API keys or other sensitive information in public repositories.
Third-Party Security Components: It locates references to security tools, libraries, or frameworks used by the company and checks for outdated or vulnerable versions of these components.
Implementation Specifics: The scanner extracts code snippets or configuration details that reveal internal implementation strategies and identifies custom solutions or proprietary technologies mentioned in public repositories.
Licensing Disputes: It searches for mentions of licensing issues, disputes, or compliance violations related to third-party software, including references to legal actions or settlements involving intellectual property.
Breach Mentions and Security Incidents: The scanner identifies reports of data breaches, security incidents, or unauthorized access attempts and looks for patterns indicating potential security vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps organizations proactively identify potential intellectual property exposure and compliance issues, which can significantly impact their security posture and legal liabilities.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The risk level is critical when there are clear indications of significant data breaches or unauthorized access attempts that could lead to severe consequences such as substantial financial loss or reputational damage.
High: High risks are associated with the detection of outdated third-party components, which can be vulnerable to attacks and pose a threat to system security.
Medium: Medium risk findings involve general compliance issues related to licensing agreements and could lead to potential disputes if not addressed promptly.
Low: Low risk findings include routine information about software integrations that do not directly impact the core functionality or security of the systems.
Info: Informational findings are those that provide basic insights into how a company manages its technology stack but do not pose immediate risks.

If specific conditions for each risk level are not detailed in the README, they have been inferred based on the scanner’s purpose and impact.

Example Findings:

The scanner might flag integration details of AWS and Azure usage that were not previously documented within company policies.
It could also detect mentions of a proprietary technology used internally but undocumented in public repositories, which is crucial for understanding IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) compliance.

Employee Litigation Documents

Purpose: The Employee Litigation Documents Scanner is designed to identify and alert about potential exposures of internal processes, proprietary technologies, confidential data, and sensitive information through public repositories and online platforms. This tool aims to safeguard intellectual property and prevent the leakage of sensitive company information by analyzing publicly accessible documents for specific keywords and patterns indicative of insider knowledge disclosure.

What It Detects:

Insider Knowledge Disclosure: Identifies mentions of internal processes, proprietary technologies, and confidential data in publicly accessible documents.
- Example Patterns: internal\\s+process, proprietary\\s+technology, confidential\\s+data
Process Documentation Exposure: Detects detailed descriptions of company operations, workflows, and procedures that could be leveraged by external actors.
- Example Patterns: workflow\\s+description, operational\\s+procedure, company\\s+operations
Training Materials Leakage: Finds training manuals, guides, and instructional content that may contain sensitive information about the company’s systems and processes.
- Example Patterns: training\\s+manual, instructional\\s+guide, system\\s+documentation
Security Incident Disclosures: Identifies mentions of security breaches, unauthorized access, and data compromises in public records and news articles.
- Example Patterns: data\\s+breach, security\\s+incident, unauthorized\\s+access, compromised
Technical Stack Disclosure: Detects references to specific technologies, tools, and frameworks used by the company that could be valuable to attackers.
- Example Patterns: experience\\s+with\\s+(aws|azure|gcp|kubernetes), proficiency\\s+in\\s+(terraform|ansible|docker), knowledge\\s+of\\s+(splunk|datadog|elastic)

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps in identifying potential leaks of sensitive information that could lead to security breaches, legal issues, and loss of competitive advantage. It supports proactive measures to protect the company’s intellectual property and maintain a secure internal environment.

Risk Levels:

Critical: Conditions where insider knowledge disclosure or detailed process documentation is publicly accessible, potentially leading to significant security risks.
High: Conditions involving exposure of proprietary technologies or confidential data that could be misused by competitors or malicious actors.
Medium: Conditions where sensitive information might be disclosed through training materials but does not pose immediate critical risk.
Low: Informal disclosures in public repositories that do not directly impact the company’s competitive position.
Info: Routine mentions of internal processes and standard operating procedures that are generally non-sensitive.

Example Findings:

“We were notified of a security incident on our platform.” - Detected from https://acme.com/security-incident
“Detailed workflow description for internal use only.” - Found in the private repository documentation, potentially exposing internal processes.

Patent Filing Detail Leakage

Purpose: The Patent Filing Detail Leakage Scanner is designed to identify and alert about the inadvertent disclosure of sensitive intellectual property such as security technology details, architectural information, and algorithm exposure in public records and open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources. This tool ensures that companies maintain a secure competitive advantage by preventing the unintentional sharing of proprietary information through public repositories, job postings, and SEC filings.

What It Detects:

Security Technology Disclosure: Identifies mentions of specific security technologies including AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible, Docker, Splunk, Datadog, and Elastic in public repositories and job postings.
Architecture Details Exposure: Searches for detailed descriptions of system architectures that include cloud services, container orchestration tools, monitoring solutions, and data management platforms.
Algorithm Exposure: Detects the presence of algorithmic details or references to proprietary algorithms that could be valuable intellectual property.
SEC Filings Analysis: Scans SEC EDGAR filings for risk factor disclosures that might inadvertently expose sensitive information about security technologies and architectures.
Job Board Technology Stack Disclosure: Analyzes job postings on platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub Jobs to identify detailed technology stacks, which could reveal internal systems and processes.

Inputs Required:

domain (string): Primary domain to analyze (e.g., acme.com)
company_name (string): Company name for statement searching (e.g., “Acme Corporation”)

Business Impact: This scanner is crucial as it helps in safeguarding sensitive intellectual property from exposure, which could lead to competitive disadvantage and potential security vulnerabilities. By identifying and alerting about the inadvertent disclosure of such information, companies can take proactive measures to protect their proprietary assets.

Risk Levels:

Critical: The scanner identifies specific mentions of prohibited technologies directly in public repositories or job postings without any obfuscation or encryption.
High: Detailed descriptions of system architectures are found in publicly accessible documents that could reveal internal configurations and dependencies.
Medium: References to proprietary algorithms or detailed technical specifications are detected within the text of SEC filings, potentially exposing sensitive information about company operations.
Low: Minimal exposure is identified through general industry terms or non-specific mentions that do not directly disclose critical intellectual property.
Info: Non-critical findings such as generic usage of cloud services without specific brand names in public discussions unrelated to the company’s proprietary technology.

Example Findings:

An AWS service is mentioned explicitly in a job posting description, which could lead to unauthorized access and data leakage if intercepted by competitors.
Detailed architectural diagrams are found in a GitHub repository that outlines the use of multiple cloud services including Azure and Kubernetes, potentially compromising future strategic partnerships and licensing agreements.