CloudFlare, the security-filtering, DNS pass-through CDN, has reported via its blog that its servers have been breached. The hacking team UGNazi has surfaced and is claiming credit for the breach.
The breach of CloudFlare, according to the hacker, includes the full database. From the exchanged details it seems only a Google Apps account was compromised to allow the hacker to reach its specific target, assumedly 4Chan. No financial details are recorded in the database according to CloudFlare CEO and co-founder Matthew Prince, the direct target and where the story gets interesting.
Prince used two email addresses tied to CloudFlare operations – a personal Gmail account and a CloudFlare.com account run through Google Apps. While the Google Apps accounts used two factor authentication, the hacker was able to the personal Gmail account to gain access to the Google Apps account. Once they had access to the Google Apps Control Panel, they gained access to an administrative account where password reset emails were BCC-ed for troubleshooting purposes. The hackers then reset the password on the targeted victim’s account, accessed it, and updated their DNS records within CloudFlare.
CloudFlare has been working with Google Security to discover an account recovery flow flaw that allowed this despite having two-factor authentication enabled.
Just received notice from Google that they tracked down the issue core issue that allowed a compromise of the two-factor authentication system. Google reports that they discovered a “subtle flaw affecting not 2-step verification itself, but the account recovery flow for some accounts. We’ve now blocked that attack vector to prevent further abuse.” That’s great news. I want to reiterate that the Google Security team has, at all times throughout this incident, been responsive and attentive to the issue. In my opinion, they are the model of security on the Internet and we continue to trust them to power email for CloudFlare.com.
Prince has since broken all ties between his personal Gmail address and CloudFlare administration. The company found some customer API keys present in emails in the compromised account, so it has reset the API keys of any of those present. You can reset your accounts API key through the Account Control Panel. The CloudFlare blog post has even been updated to state that no unauthorized access into CloudFlare systems has been found, further discrediting the hacker’s story.