| Recurring |
one_organization, multiple_organization |
(a) The software failure incident related to Google Docs phishing has the potential to happen again within the same organization, Google. The incident in May 2017, known as "the Google Docs worm," spread across the internet affecting more than a million accounts before being contained by Google. Despite Google's efforts to add more restrictions on apps interfacing with Google Workspace, security researcher Matthew Bryant found loopholes that could potentially be exploited by attackers within the same organization [117923].
(b) The software failure incident related to Google Docs phishing could also happen at other organizations or with their products and services. The incident highlighted the risks associated with manipulating legitimate features and services, such as Google Workspace, for abusive purposes. Bryant's research presented at the Defcon security conference indicated that similar scams using the same approach of manipulating real Google Workspace notifications have been observed, suggesting that this type of attack could potentially target multiple organizations [117923]. |
| Phase (Design/Operation) |
design |
(a) The software failure incident discussed in the article highlights design-related issues in Google Workspace that led to security vulnerabilities. The incident involved a phishing attack known as "the Google Docs worm" that spread across the internet in 2017. The attack exploited the design flaws in Google Workspace, specifically in how apps could interface with Workspace and request sensitive access like emails and contacts. The incident affected over a million accounts before Google contained it. The design flaws in Workspace allowed attackers to manipulate legitimate features and services to create phishing links or pages that appeared legitimate to targets, leveraging the trust users have in Google's offerings [117923].
(b) The article does not specifically mention any software failure incident related to operation or misuse of the system. Therefore, information regarding failure due to contributing factors introduced by the operation or misuse of the system is unknown. |
| Boundary (Internal/External) |
within_system, outside_system |
(a) The software failure incident discussed in the article is primarily within_system. The incident involved a phishing attack known as "the Google Docs worm" that spread across the internet, affecting more than a million accounts [Article 117923]. The attack exploited vulnerabilities within Google Workspace, manipulating legitimate features and services to carry out phishing scams. The design flaws within Google Workspace allowed attackers to create loopholes and workarounds to bypass enhanced protections, ultimately leading to the potential hijacking of Google accounts within organizations. The risks and security problems identified in the incident stem from specific design decisions within Google Workspace, highlighting internal system vulnerabilities that were exploited by attackers. |
| Nature (Human/Non-human) |
non-human_actions, human_actions |
(a) The software failure incident in Article 117923 occurred due to non-human actions, specifically a phishing attack known as "the Google Docs worm" that spread across the internet. The attack used special web applications to impersonate Google Docs and request deep access to the emails and contact lists in Gmail accounts. The incident ultimately affected more than a million accounts before Google successfully contained it [117923].
(b) The software failure incident in Article 117923 also involved human actions. The phishing attack was successful because the requests appeared to come from people the target knew, leading them to grant access to the malicious app. Additionally, the incident highlighted design choices made by Google Workspace that left potential openings for attacks, such as loopholes in the review process for small apps and the ability to trick users into granting access to malicious apps [117923]. |
| Dimension (Hardware/Software) |
software |
(a) The software failure incident related to hardware:
- The incident mentioned in the article [117923] does not directly attribute the software failure to hardware issues. The failure primarily stemmed from design flaws and vulnerabilities in Google Workspace that were exploited by attackers.
(b) The software failure incident related to software:
- The software failure incident discussed in article [117923] was primarily due to contributing factors originating in software. The phishing attack, known as "the Google Docs worm," exploited vulnerabilities in Google Workspace's design, allowing attackers to manipulate legitimate features and services to carry out the scam. The incident highlighted flaws in the conceptual design of Google Workspace, which created opportunities for abuse and security breaches. |
| Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) |
malicious |
(a) The software failure incident described in the article is malicious in nature. It involved a phishing attack known as "the Google Docs worm" that spread across the internet, impersonating Google Docs to request deep access to Gmail accounts and perpetuating the scam by distributing the same scam email to victims' contacts [Article 117923]. The incident was a deliberate attempt to deceive users and gain unauthorized access to their sensitive information, indicating malicious intent behind the failure. |
| Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) |
poor_decisions |
(a) The intent of the software failure incident was due to poor decisions made in the design and implementation of Google Workspace. The incident involved a phishing attack known as "the Google Docs worm" that spread across the internet in May 2017 [117923]. The incident ultimately affected more than a million accounts before Google successfully contained it. The design choices in Google Workspace, such as allowing small apps to run without alerts if attached to a document from someone in the organization, left potential openings for attacks. Security researcher Matthew Bryant highlighted that the design issues in Workspace's conceptual design led to various security problems that cannot be easily fixed [117923]. The incident underscored the challenge of minimizing abuse on platforms built for flexibility and ease of use, showing that poor design decisions can lead to significant security risks. |
| Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) |
development_incompetence, unknown |
(a) The software failure incident related to development incompetence is evident in the Google Docs phishing attack incident described in Article 117923. The incident involved a phishing attack that spread across the internet, exploiting vulnerabilities in Google Workspace's design. The attack leveraged legitimate features and services of Google Workspace to manipulate users into granting access to their accounts, ultimately affecting over a million accounts. Security researcher Matthew Bryant highlighted that the security problems stemmed from specific design decisions in Google Workspace, indicating a failure in the development process due to inherent design flaws [117923].
(b) The software failure incident related to accidental factors is not explicitly mentioned in the provided article. |
| Duration |
temporary |
The software failure incident described in the article [117923] can be categorized as a temporary failure. The incident involving the Google Docs worm was a result of a phishing attack that spread across the internet in May 2017. Google successfully contained the worm after it affected more than a million accounts. However, new research indicates that the fixes implemented by Google may not be sufficient, and there is a risk of similar scams happening again. The article highlights that the incident led to Google adding more restrictions on apps that can interface with Google Workspace, especially those requesting sensitive access like emails or contacts. Despite the strengthened protections, security researcher Matthew Bryant found loopholes that could potentially be exploited by attackers. This indicates that the failure was temporary in nature, as it was contained and measures were taken to address the vulnerabilities, but there remains a risk of similar incidents occurring in the future. |
| Behaviour |
byzantine, other |
(a) crash: The article does not mention any specific instance of a system crash where the system loses state and fails to perform its intended functions.
(b) omission: The article does not mention any specific instance of the system omitting to perform its intended functions at an instance(s).
(c) timing: The article does not mention any specific instance of the system performing its intended functions correctly, but too late or too early.
(d) value: The article does not mention any specific instance of the system performing its intended functions incorrectly.
(e) byzantine: The software failure incident described in the article is related to a phishing attack known as "the Google Docs worm." The incident involved manipulating legitimate features and services of Google Workspace to create phishing links or pages that appeared legitimate to targets. Attackers exploited design flaws in Google Workspace to trick users into granting access to their Google accounts without proper warnings or alerts. This behavior aligns with a byzantine failure where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions [117923].
(f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident described in the article can be categorized as a form of social engineering attack. Attackers leveraged trust in Google's offerings and manipulated legitimate infrastructure to deceive users into granting access to their accounts. This type of behavior falls under the category of social engineering, where attackers exploit human psychology to gain unauthorized access to systems or information. |