Zombie Projects Rise Again to Undermine Security

Summary

Organisations continue to be haunted by “zombie” assets — forgotten code, unmanaged hardware, legacy APIs and abandoned cloud services that remain live and expose networks to attackers. These undead assets expand attack surfaces, carry unpatched vulnerabilities and are increasingly linked to impactful incidents and breaches. Research from multiple vendors (Microsoft, Black Duck, Palo Alto Networks, Tenable, Radware) shows rising exposures: old open-source packages, neglected endpoints, and shadow or legacy APIs are all frequent footholds for attackers.

The article highlights that automation, rapid AI pilots and inertia around decommissioning services are primary drivers for this growing security debt, and urges better discovery, prioritisation and cross-team remediation to prevent further risk.

Key Points

Zombie assets include outdated code libraries, unmanaged devices, forgotten APIs and abandoned cloud resources — all of which enlarge an organisation’s attack surface.
Studies show widespread rot: most codebases contain old or unmaintained open-source components and many carry critical vulnerabilities.
Cloud complexity and automation (e.g. certificate renewals, AI pilots) can unintentionally keep dead services active and consuming resources or exposing data.
API attacks have surged; shadow and zombie APIs permit business-logic and data exfiltration without easy detection.
Organisational silos and lack of ownership make discovery and remediation hard — automation and cross-team collaboration are essential.
Prioritise components that are both outdated and carry high/critical risk; scanning manifests alone misses many transitive vulnerabilities.

Context and Relevance

This is a timely read for security, cloud and engineering teams because the problem is systemic and growing as organisations adopt more cloud services and AI pilots. The article ties vendor research and real-world incidents together to show that zombie assets are not edge cases but a mainstream exposure vector. It connects to ongoing trends: expanding external attack surfaces, the rise of API-targeted attacks, and the security debt created by rapid deployment of AI and automation.

Why should I read this?

Short version: if you own anything in your organisation — code, servers, APIs or AI trials — this is worth five minutes. It explains where the rot hides, why it happens (automation, forgetfulness, fast-paced AI pilots) and what to tackle first. We’ve done the heavy lifting: read this to avoid being the next breach headline.

Source

Source: https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/zombie-projects-rise-again-undermine-security