Despite major investments in cybersecurity, organizations continue to face breaches. Most security mechanisms implemented guard against threats such as password theft. However, there is a growing concern with the unchecked expansion of user access, permissions, and tokens across apps, clouds, and systems.
This growing challenge is known as authorization sprawl, and it is becoming one of the most dangerous and least visible threats in modern enterprise security.
According to insights from the SANS keynote at the RSAC 2025 Conference, attackers are increasingly exploiting this sprawl to gain legitimate, persistent access that bypasses multifactor authentication (MFA), security information and event management (SIEM) alerts, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) visibility altogether.
What is Authorization Sprawl?
Authorization sprawl occurs when access permissions multiply uncontrollably across systems, users, and applications. Every time a team or department adds a new SaaS integration, service account, or API key, another layer of permission is introduced.
In an attempt to make access to multiple applications easy, users also have single sign-on (SSO), designed to help log in once and access multiple applications securely. Here, users are granted access to several connected systems through SSO, adding to the authorization sprawl problem.
Over time, all these factors create a complex ecosystem that even security teams have a hard time tracing who can access what.
Unlike authentication, which verifies who someone is, authorization determines what one can do. When permissions expand without review, attackers take advantage of forgotten tokens, dormant accounts, or outdated roles to move freely inside systems.
Why Traditional Defenses Miss It
Most defenses focus on identity verification, such as MFA, conditional access, and endpoint protection. But once a user is authenticated, there is no monitoring. This is the blind spot that attackers exploit. Instead of breaking in, they log in using legitimate session tokens, application programming interface (API) keys, or open authorization (OAuth) grants.
The misuse of valid credentials or access tokens enables cloud-related breaches. These attacks bypass traditional detection tools because they appear to be normal activity by authorized users.
A recent incident involving Salesloft’s Drift application highlights how damaging authorization sprawl can be. Drift, an AI chatbot often integrated with Salesforce, was exploited after attackers gained access to Salesloft’s GitHub account and later its AWS environment. From there, they stole OAuth tokens and authentication credentials, exposing Salesforce data from potentially hundreds of organizations. This incident is an example of how interconnected SaaS systems and unchecked authorization links can create a cascading breach effect, where one weak point leads to multiple breaches across services.
The Business Impact of Authorization Sprawl
Aside from increasing technical risk, authorization sprawl erodes compliance, governance, and trust.
- Regulatory Exposure – Frameworks like GDPR, SOC 2, and HIPAA require strict access control and auditability. Untracked permissions make demonstrating compliance nearly impossible.
- Operational Risk – An overprivileged account can unintentionally leak data, delete configurations, or expose APIs.
- False Sense of Security – Zero Trust frameworks often stop at identity verification. Failing to continuously validate authorization is equivalent to protecting the front door while leaving internal doors wide open.
How to Fix Authorization Sprawl
Luckily, solving this problem does not require removing existing security controls but rather extending visibility and discipline into authorization.
- Conduct Regular Access Audits – Map users, roles, and permissions across your environment. Be sure to look for redundant privileges, dormant accounts, and orphaned API keys. Use tools that help visualize hidden paths and privilege escalation routes.
- Implement Structured Access Control – Use frameworks like role-based access control (RBAC) or attribute-based access control (ABAC). Standardizing roles ensures fewer exceptions and easier auditing.
- Automate Reviews and Revocations – Integrate identity and access management (IAM) with HR systems so access automatically changes when employees leave or change roles. This helps eliminate the temporary access that never gets removed.
- Shorten Token Lifetimes and Rotate Credentials – Session tokens and personal access tokens (PATs) should have an expiration period, such as 30 to 90 days. Using automated key rotation policies will help prevent long-lived access tokens from becoming backdoors.
- Enforce the Principle of Least Privilege – Grant users and systems only the minimum access needed.
- Extend Zero Trust to Authorization – Verification shouldn’t end with login. Apply continuous authorization checks.
Conclusion
As cloud ecosystems, APIs, and integrations continue to multiply, authorization complexity will grow exponentially. Businesses that invest in mapping and controlling authorization sprawl will stay ahead of both attackers and regulators. In cybersecurity, visibility equals control, and this begins with knowing exactly who can do what.
When it comes to business needs, securing financing is a top priority, particularly when starting out or for ongoing needs such as making payroll or paying for inventory. This financing could include a loan or securing an ongoing credit line, and businesses can do that through Off-Balance Sheet Financing (OBSF).
When it comes to evaluating a business, there are many ways to perform a valuation. One way to do so is to use the Q Ratio. Known as Tobin’s Q Ratio or simply the Q Ratio, this method looks at the proportion between the values of a physical asset and its replacement cost. Developed by Nobel laureate economist James Tobin, this ratio presumes a single company; for public investors, if asset values can be estimated, the company’s market value of a publicly traded company may be approximately estimated.
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (S 2296) – Introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) on July 15, the Senate passed this legislation on Oct. 9. The bill is a carve-out of the 2026 budget bill intended to fund military appropriations for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The bill was largely supported by Republicans but less so by Democrats, who are in favor of keeping the government closed until all of their budget concerns are addressed. In addition to establishing funding and policies for military and defense-related activities, the bill includes a roadmap for bomber modernization, a real-time database for contractor compliance oversight, and authorizing programs for nuclear weapons facilities. The legislation would authorize $32.1 billion over the President’s budget request, and the White House opposes provisions in the bill that thwart the President’s ability to control immigration and conduct foreign affairs, including submitting plans to Congress ahead of actions, dictating the terms of intelligence support to Ukraine, and enabling the Defense Department to bypass the Administration’s tariffs. The bill currently rests with the House, which asserts it will not return to regular session until the Senate passes the current controversial CR budget bill.
The rules for IRAs inherited after 2020 changed when Congress passed the Secure Act in 2019. The new rules eliminated the opportunity for non-spousal beneficiaries to “stretch” inherited IRA earnings over their own lifetime. Up until this year, required minimum distributions (RMDs) and associated penalties were waived while the IRS clarified the new rules; but in 2025, they are in full force for most inherited IRA beneficiaries.
For some of us, last-minute holiday shopping is just what we do. That said, it’s probably never fun, and two things invariably seem to happen: The gifts you want aren’t available, and you end up paying too much. That’s why shopping in November to get the best savings on what you want just might be the right thing to do this year. Here are a few sales dates to put on your calendar.
As organizations invest heavily in next-gen firewalls, AI detection, and threat intelligence, grave cyberattacks have been reported as a result of overlooked misconfigurations. According to the latest statistics, about 
The IRS has released draft Schedule 1-A, introducing four new temporary deductions within the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. If you are wondering what the new form looks like and how the calculations work, read on as we explore each below.
When it comes to running a business, having outstanding invoices that turn into uncollectible receivables or simply bad debt is a fact of life. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a safe harbor that permits businesses to reduce consideration of such bad debt from taxation if it qualifies. However, understanding how to determine if a business is eligible is essential to making the most of it when a business files its taxes.
Contribution margin after marketing (CMAM) measures how much money is generated per unit retailed after factoring in a company’s variable costs, along with marketing costs.