About
KeyDrop is a public-interest cybersecurity research initiative aimed at reducing API key abuse.
The project seeks to systematically lower the risks associated with publicly exposed API keys by identifying credential leaks across the internet and reporting them responsibly to service providers.
We invite collaboration with commercial and academic partners,particularly large technology platforms,to develop standardized mechanisms by which researchers can transmit reports of exposed credentials through structured and secure APIs.
This initiative draws inspiration from GitHub’s Secret Scanning, a program that automatically examines uploaded code repositories for sensitive tokens and notifies both the user and the relevant provider. In practice, this enables platforms such as Google to proactively suspend compromised API keys before they are misused.
KeyDrop extends this model from the bounded environment of code hosting platforms to the broader internet, applying large-scale scanning methodologies to support timely remediation and mitigate opportunities for malicious exploitation.
In short: KeyDrop operationalizes internet-wide scanning as a public service, enabling responsible, provider-driven remediation of exposed API keys before they can be abused.
You may have seen us in your logs
We issue only lightweight discovery requests, no payloads or exploit attempts. Our scans currently focus on identifying:
These requests may appear in Apache logs as:
"GET /.env HTTP/1.1" 404 3556 "-" "Mozilla/5.0; Keydrop.io/1.0(keydrop.io/about);""GET /.git/config HTTP/1.1" 404 3556 "-" "Mozilla/5.0; Keydrop.io/1.0(keydrop.io/about);"
If exposed credentials are detected, KeyDrop securely reports the affected IP address and API keys to the appropriate provider. For example, if a misconfiguration exposes your Google API keys, we notify Google directly.
Can I opt out?
Yes. If you’d like your domains or IP ranges excluded from KeyDrop scans, please email keydrop [[at ]] onlyscans.net.