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points by primitivesuave 4 days ago | 0 comments
Postman logs detailed information on every single API request you make through its tool, including query parameters. If you use the templating syntax `{{some_secret}}` to fill in a query parameter, it sends the actual secret content of `some_secret` to Postman's servers. If you disable outgoing network traffic to this logging endpoint, the entire app will stop working properly.

I discovered this when investigating whether Postman is HIPAA-compliant (it is not).

[–] wackget 4 days ago
That sounds all sorts of illegal, and all sorts of immoral.

Did you flag it / create an issue?

[–] primitivesuave 4 days ago
Yes - I wrote some public posts, and a Medium article which I forgot about until just now: https://anonymousdata.medium.com/postman-is-logging-all-your...

My main point was that I wouldn't want my secrets to ever be sent to Postman under any circumstance (or alternately, stop calling them "secret"). A lot of the online responses were some variation of "why are you sending secrets in query parameters in the first place?" (I'm not). When I posted on Reddit, it escalated to targeted harassment by people who were obviously current/former employees at Postman.

I did send out an email blast to a bunch of CIOs/CSOs in my network which went a bit "email viral" through forwarding, and this ended up triggering a substantial amount of enterprise cancellations.

[–] lelandfe 4 days ago
> some variation of "why are you sending secrets in query parameters in the first place?" (I'm not)

The example from the blogpost: `http://localhost:4000/patient/{(SECRET}}`

Wherein the logger logs the final URL with the secret.

I think I agree with the masses? It strikes me as an odd place to put a secret.

But to your credit, they also... shouldn't be logging endpoints? Secrets or no. That's basically what this person said responding to your post: https://medium.com/@fsufitch/if-you-are-writing-this-off-as-...

> Postman is, in essence, "looking over your shoulder" and jotting down all URLs you query

[–] MiroslavPokorny 4 days ago
I am still dumbfounded what value Postman can make in capturing all the publics usage. Sure they could mine the data, but they cant exactly use it in any legal way so why bother ?
[–] SamuelAdams 3 days ago
You may want to check recent changes, as of May 2026 it is HIPAA compliant.

https://blog.postman.com/postman-is-hipaa-compliant/

[–] xlayn 4 days ago
github.com/alainnothere/mailBoy

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50359814