If you had to guess where the next big data breach would come from, what would you say? A zero-day exploit? A nation-state attack? A sophisticated phishing scheme?

Good guesses—but wrong.

The truth is some of the biggest breaches didn’t happen because of elite hackers breaking through cutting-edge defenses. They happened because of security gaps in places where no one was looking. An employee downloading a tool they shouldn’t have. An old access permission left active. A misconfigured SaaS app hiding in plain sight.

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In each case, the breach stemmed from a SaaS security blind spot—an overlooked gap that no one saw until it was too late. In this article, we break down three recent SaaS incidents and what they teach us about securing the applications we rely on every day.

1. The Disney Breach – An Unsanctioned AI Tool Opens the Door

You’ve likely all heard the story of how a Disney engineer downloaded an AI tool on his personal device unknowingly installing malware that wrecked his life and led to the breach of both his 1Password account and Disney’s Slack channel. The fallout was brutal: over 44 million company messages leaked, exposing internal projects, financial data, and private employee details. And the personal cost? He lost his job. His credentials were published online. His family’s accounts were hijacked. All-in-all: an unimaginable security nightmare.

What went wrong?

• Personal devices had access to corporate systems; his personal computer became a stepping stone into Disney’s internal network.

• No MFA on his 1Password account, making it easier for hackers to access both personal and company-sensitive data.

• Unknown corporate credential usage. While it’s unclear whether corporate credentials were involved in this breach, it raises a critical question: how often are employees using work accounts for non-business purposes? Without visibility into where and how corporate credentials are being used—whether for unauthorized software downloads, personal projects, or shadow SaaS accounts—security teams risk missing potential exposure points.

When security teams can’t see what’s being installed, where employees are logging in from, or how credentials are being used and secured, risks multiply fast. The breach wasn’t just about one bad software decision—it was the result of blind spots that no one knew existed until they became headline news.

2. Zapier’s Code Repository Breach – The MFA Misstep

Zapier, a popular SaaS automation platform, recently disclosed that an unauthorized user accessed private code repositories, raising concerns about potential data exposure. But what made this breach particularly concerning was what they found in their investigation: customer data had been inadvertently copied into these repositories. How? The details aren’t clear, only that it was part of a debugging process.

What we do know is that the breach stemmed from a misconfigured multi-factor authentication (MFA) setting on an employee’s account, and this small oversight was enough for an attacker to slip in and gain access to data stored in the repositories.

To prevent a similar incident:

• Know who and how employees are accessing SaaS applications and corporate systems and ensure tools accessing sensitive data are protected by MFA or SSO.

• Regularly audit SaaS configurations for configuration drift and misconfigured security settings.

• Proactively review OAuth scopes, as permissions can be granted by both users and apps. Misconfigured scopes or risky scopes can lead to unauthorized access to systems that aren’t intended.

3. Disney’s Dangling Account Access Leads to Digital Sabotage

What happens when a former employee still has access to internal systems? In Disney’s case, it led to an act of digital vandalism—one that could have had real-world consequences.

After being fired, a Disney employee retained access to internal systems long after his departure. Instead of moving on, he used that access to manipulate digital restaurant menus, changing fonts to Wingdings, altering item descriptions, and—most dangerously—removing critical allergy information. While the tampering may have seemed like an act of petty revenge, the implications were serious: if a guest with a severe food allergy relied on those menus, the results could have been disastrous.

Why This Incident Happened

Disney’s account offboarding process failed to immediately and fully revoke the employee’s system access upon termination. This left an open door for unauthorized activity, a mistake that is surprisingly common. In fact, many organizations struggle with timely deactivation of credentials, especially in large enterprises where multiple systems require separate offboarding processes.  

Learnings from this Incident

The blunt truth is that this incident could have been prevented with the proper SaaS security measures. Dangling access is a silent risk—one that often goes unnoticed until it’s exploited, as was the case here.  

Studies show 31% of former employees retain access to a prior company’s software accounts. Offboarding needs to be thorough and airtight, not just for known accounts but also for shadow SaaS accounts the employee may have set up. Automating access removal ensures nothing slips through the cracks, closing security gaps before they become vulnerabilities.

The Commonality of Each Incident

There’s a common thread running through all of these incidents: they all occurred from security blind spots. These weren’t sophisticated attacks. They were breaches caused by oversights in SaaS security, access control, and user behavior. But they all highlight a critical challenge: you can’t secure what you can’t see. Securing SaaS environments isn’t about reacting after an attack—it’s about proactively eliminating blind spots before they can be exploited. Here’s how:

Discovery: Find the Unknown Before It Finds You

The first step in protecting your SaaS environment is gaining full visibility. What apps are employees using? Who has access? Are there shadow IT applications flying under the radar? Every unknown app represents a potential entry point for attackers. If you don’t know what’s in your environment, you can’t protect it.

Analysis: Identify the Weakest Links

Discovery alone isn’t enough—once you know what’s in your environment, you need to evaluate the risks. Are employees using weak, shared, or reused credentials? Are policies being ignored, like disabling MFA or storing passwords insecurely? SaaS misconfigurations, exposed credentials, and unmonitored access permissions aren’t just minor risks—they’re open doors that attackers love.

Action: Close the Gaps Before They’re Exploited

Armed with insight, it’s time to take action. This means enforcing better controls:

• Require password resets for weak or compromised credentials.

• Strengthen authentication policies by enforcing SSO and MFA on critical apps.

• Automate access reviews to remove orphaned accounts and dangling access before they become security risks.

• Identify and fix SaaS misconfigurations inadvertently caused by user modifications, software updates, integration changes, or policy revisions.

Prevention: Make Security a Continuous Effort

Securing SaaS applications isn’t a one-and-done process—it requires ongoing vigilance. Misconfigurations happen. Policies get bypassed. Employees make mistakes. Instead of waiting for an incident, use real-time monitoring and policy enforcement to prevent threats before they escalate. SaaS security platforms (like Grip) that prompt users to justify new SaaS apps or enforce credential security at the point of use can help teams stay ahead.

Response: Act Fast, Minimize Damage

Even with the best security measures, incidents happen—and when they do, response time matters. Whether it’s a compromised credential, an unapproved app, or lingering access, acting decisively and swiftly is the difference between a contained issue and a full-scale breach. Automated password resets, access revocations, and user notifications can shut down threats before they spread.

SaaS Security Starts with Awareness

The biggest risk is the security gaps we don’t see. From personal devices accessing corporate apps to corporate credentials used inappropriately to forgotten accounts with lingering permissions, attackers aren’t breaking in—they’re walking through open doors. At the end of the day, SaaS security isn’t just about stopping external attackers; it’s about knowing what’s happening inside your SaaS estate before it’s too late.

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The biggest security risks aren’t always where you expect—but they’re there. Grip helps you find and fix SaaS blind spots before they become breaches. Book a demo to see how.

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