1.12 Ensure API Keys Are Not Created for a Project

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Information

Keys are insecure because they can be viewed publicly, such as from within a browser, or they can be accessed on a device where the key resides. It is recommended to use standard authentication flow instead.

Rationale:

Security risks involved in using API-Keys appear below:

API keys are simple encrypted strings

API keys do not identify the user or the application making the API request

API keys are typically accessible to clients, making it easy to discover and steal an API key

To avoid the security risk in using API keys, it is recommended to use standard authentication flow instead.

Impact:

Deleting an API key will break dependent applications (if any).

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

From Console:

Go to APIs & Services\Credentials using https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials

In the section API Keys, to delete API Keys: Click the Delete Bin Icon in front of every API Key Name.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3817