Lessons from the Salesloft Drift Exposure: What Happened, Its Impact, and How Cyera Can Help

This week, security researchers disclosed a significant incident involving Salesloft Drift integrations. Threat actors exploited OAuth tokens tied to Salesloft, gaining unauthorized access to connected applications - including Salesforce.

The attack was linked to a group called ShinyHunters, known for targeting high-profile companies in the past.

While Salesforce itself was not the source of the compromise, integrations through Salesloft opened new avenues for attackers to search for secrets and credentials within customer environments.

The incident underscores a broader reality: the more interconnected SaaS applications become, the more critical it is to understand where sensitive data and credentials live, who can access them, and how attackers might exploit those pathways.

What Do We Know Happened?

It started with a single door left ajar. Salesloft Drift, a widely used sales engagement platform, became the target when attackers found a way to exploit OAuth tokens - those invisible keys that quietly keep integrations running in the background. With those tokens in hand, the attackers didn’t need passwords or MFA prompts; they suddenly had a way into trusted environments.

From there, the compromise rippled outward. Because Salesloft was connected to other critical SaaS platforms, including Salesforce, Google Workspace, and Outlook, attackers gained access to a much broader digital ecosystem. They weren’t just looking for customer records or emails - reports indicate they were specifically hunting for secrets and credentials embedded in customer data. With those, they could unlock even more systems downstream.

• The exposure originated in Salesloft Drift, where compromised OAuth tokens granted attackers unauthorized access.
  
  
• Salesforce was among the affected integrations, not the source of the breach but a potential pathway for attackers.
  
  
• Google issued warnings to 2.5 billion Gmail users, underscoring the global scale and urgency of the incident.

What Is the Impact?

The ripple effects of this incident show just how fragile interconnected SaaS ecosystems can be. Imagine a single weak link in a chain: one small compromise in Salesloft Drift expanded instantly into the systems it touched. Suddenly, Salesforce environments - home to sensitive customer data - and even Gmail inboxes were part of the blast radius.

The threat wasn’t limited to stolen records. Attackers were reportedly combing through environments to find secrets - like API keys, tokens, or credentials - tucked away inside Salesforce objects or customer records. These secrets, once discovered, could be weaponized to infiltrate even more systems. For organizations, that means the exposure doesn’t end with a single platform; it spreads like a contagion across every integration.

• Broader Exposure Through Integrations: A compromise in Salesloft Drift quickly extended into Salesforce, Google Workspace, and Outlook.
  
  
• Secrets as the Target: Attackers were focused on finding embedded credentials they could use for further attacks.
  
  
• Compliance & Trust Risks: Even when the initial fault lies in a third-party, organizations bear the responsibility for exposed sensitive data and face reputational and regulatory consequences.

‍How Did This Happen?

The breach didn’t begin with stolen usernames or cracked passwords - it started with the tokens we trust to make modern SaaS work seamlessly. OAuth tokens are meant to simplify our digital lives, silently passing between apps to keep integrations smooth and secure. But in the wrong hands, those same tokens become a skeleton key.

In the case of Salesloft Drift, attackers were able to abuse these tokens, granting themselves the same level of access as legitimate users. Once inside, they didn’t stop at Salesloft. Like water flowing downhill, the attackers followed the natural connections between applications. Salesforce was one of them - not the origin of the problem, but a rich target because of the sensitive data it holds.

The real challenge for organizations is that few teams have visibility into how these integrations move data around. Secrets stored in Salesforce objects, credentials embedded in notes, or overlooked API keys can all become stepping stones in an attacker’s hands. And because identity controls typically trust OAuth tokens, these movements often fly under the radar.

• OAuth Token Exploitation: Attackers bypassed traditional login methods by abusing OAuth tokens, which provided persistent access without user interaction.
  
  
• Integration as an Attack Path: Salesloft Drift acted as the initial entry point, but attackers quickly leveraged connected integrations like Salesforce and Google Workspace.
  
  
• Blind Spots in Data Visibility: Most organizations couldn’t see where sensitive data or secrets were being stored, leaving exploitable blind spots.
  
  
• Limits of IAM Controls: Identity and access management tools weren’t enough - they trusted the tokens and missed the anomalous data movements attackers created.

What Should Organizations Do to Avoid These Risks?

Salesforce itself has emphasized that while integrations make SaaS platforms powerful, they also expand the attack surface. To mitigate risks like those highlighted in the Salesloft Drift exposure, organizations should:

To reduce the chance of similar incidents, security teams should:

• Eliminate secrets from SaaS records – Passwords, API keys, and credentials should never live in Salesforce fields.
  
  
• Audit OAuth integrations regularly – Remove unused or suspicious apps.
  
  
• Scope tokens to least privilege – Ensure OAuth apps only access what they need.
  
  
• Rotate tokens aggressively – Short-lived tokens limit attacker persistence.
  
  
• Know everything third parties can access – Apply Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) principles to understand exactly which vendors, integrations, and apps have access to sensitive data.
  
  
• Monitor data flows in real time – Leverage Data Loss Prevention (DLP) techniques to detect anomalous movement of sensitive data across integrations.
  
  
• Educate employees on vishing and app authorization scams – Human trust remains a key attack vector.

How Cyera Can Help

Incidents like the Salesloft Drift exposure remind us of a hard truth: attackers don’t just go after obvious targets, they look for the small oversights - the secrets left in records, the tokens no one thought to check, the integrations that quietly expand access far beyond what’s expected. Defending against that requires visibility, not just control.

Cyera helps organizations put these practices into action by giving security teams the visibility and insight they often lack:

• Identify Secrets and Credentials
  Cyera scans Salesforce environments to detect secrets, passwords, or API keys hidden in records where they shouldn’t exist — enabling teams to remove them before attackers exploit them.
  
  
• Build an Access Map
  Cyera shows who and what integrations can access sensitive Salesforce data, helping teams spot excessive or unexpected access.
  
  
• Surface Over-Permissive Sharing Risks
  Cyera highlights data that is too broadly shared — across users, groups, or third-party apps — so organizations can tighten controls.
  
  
• Enable Informed Remediation
  With this visibility, teams can not only react faster in the event of an incident, but also proactively reduce exposure, ensuring sensitive data is better protected before a breach ever occurs.

Rather than replacing identity or integration controls, Cyera provides the data-centric visibility and context that makes those security practices actionable. The result is a stronger, more resilient Salesforce environment where secrets are removed, access is right-sized, and risks are easier to manage.

If an integration like Salesloft Drift were compromised, having this visibility wouldn’t prevent the initial exposure, but it would make a significant difference in limiting its impact. Security teams would already know where high-value data lived, whether secrets were present, and how integrations were using that data. That kind of awareness turns a blind scramble into an informed response.

Some of the ways Cyera helps organizations strengthen resilience include:

• Shining a Light on Hidden Risks: Identifying “secrets”, credentials, and sensitive data inside Salesforce objects that attackers might target.

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• Contextual Awareness of Integrations: Highlighting which third-party apps (like Drift) have access to sensitive data, so teams can weigh risk appropriately.

By giving security teams a clear picture of their Salesforce environments - where sensitive data lives, who has access, and how it’s shared - we help organizations reduce risk, minimize blast radius, and respond with clarity when something does go wrong.‍

Conclusion

The Salesloft Drift exposure is not just about one vendor or one platform. It’s a reminder of how deeply interconnected SaaS ecosystems are - and how attackers will increasingly exploit those connections to find secrets and credentials that unlock further access.

With Cyera, organizations gain the ability to see and secure sensitive data within Salesforce ,its integrations and similar applications. . That visibility ensures that even if an external service is compromised, the blast radius is reduced - helping security teams respond with clarity and confidence.

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