By Medha Cloud Security Desk
A rising number of corporate intrusions are exploiting the trust built into cloud identity systems rather than breaking past their defenses.
Security analysts tracking multiple incidents in 2025 describe a pattern: attackers are no longer stealing passwords — they are borrowing permission.
Reports from independent researchers and Guardz Cyber Intelligence show that OAuth abuse has become one of the fastest-growing entry points into Google Workspace environments. In these cases, threat actors create or compromise legitimate apps, request wide-ranging permissions, and gain lasting access to mail, Drive files, and user profiles — all through tokens that appear fully authorized.
The attack often begins innocently: a user installs a productivity plug-in, grants consent, and moves on. Behind the scenes, the app’s token can be duplicated, sold, or quietly repurposed for surveillance. Because OAuth connections bypass password prompts and many MFA checks, traditional detection systems may never flag the intrusion.
For enterprises that rely on Google Workspace’s open integration model, the convenience of seamless connectivity has become a new liability. Each third-party connector — from CRMs to scheduling tools — represents both functionality and potential exposure. Once a rogue application is approved, it lives inside the organization’s trust fabric.
Google has increased visibility into app access logs and encourages administrators to review permissions regularly, yet the core dilemma persists: security depends on each user’s judgment at the moment of consent. In large organizations, that judgment can be inconsistent.
Businesses facing compliance or data-sovereignty pressures are beginning to reconsider how much autonomy they can afford to delegate.
Microsoft 365, with its unified identity governance, conditional-access enforcement, and admin-controlled OAuth consent policies, offers tighter guardrails without eliminating integrations altogether.
Medha Cloud helps organizations transition to Microsoft 365 with a focus on identity resilience and controlled third-party access — turning the migration into an upgrade of both security and visibility.
