An account takeover is a nightmare for large companies. Typically, attackers charge a ransom and leak sensitive data to the public, leading to huge brand and reputational losses. After the attack, the company has to face regulators and potentially bear even greater burdens.
Takeovers have increased over the past decade as cybersecurity practices have lagged behind technological advances. Malicious actors can now buy data dumps and even hire entities to execute hacks and attacks.
As a result, account theft has become more frequent. However, account takeover fraud prevention has become a hot topic in cybersecurity. Here are 4 common account takeover risks every enterprise must guard against.
Password Reuse
Many employees still reuse passwords, and this poses a huge threat to a company’s security posture. Credential violations are a common attack vector, and most companies are not doing enough to guard against this risk.
For instance, recent data breaches suffered by Fast Company and Uber involved stolen user credentials. Despite the presence of MFA protocols, attackers breached systems and wreaked havoc. If a complex MFA framework was bypassed, it’s hard to see how a reused password can stand up to an attacker’s designs.
Companies prompt their employees to change passwords regularly. However, this action does not have much use. People can remember only so many passwords and tend to reuse a password across different platforms. Thus, a company inadvertently exposes itself to a data breach that occurred on another platform.
In such a scenario, attackers routinely test breached passwords on every system associated with the user, leading to even more breaches. The best solution is to perhaps ditch passwords completely and adopt FIDO protocols.
FIDO proposes the use of MFA but removes passwords from the authentication sequence. The result is a safe environment for all users, and companies can rest assured their systems are always secure.
Insecure Digital Footprints
Companies use a complex web of services and cloud infrastructure to build their products. The problem is they leave significant digital footprints, giving attackers an infiltration path. A digital footprint often contains credentials and other sensitive information that an attacker can reuse.
Even worse, like with the case of reused passwords, an employee’s sensitive information might be used to access a company’s system. With the rise of remote work, more employees are accessing company servers through insecure connections. Enforcing VPN access at all times is a good move.
However, companies must back these efforts up by encrypting all data. Crucially, they must encrypt data at rest and in motion. Using a tool that automates account takeover prevention is also the right move. These tools automatically block suspicious transactions, thanks to a layered approach to security monitoring.
Lack of Fraud Protection Automation
Automation sounds like a good deal, but many organizations fumble their responses by marrying these tools into manual review processes. For instance, the tool might flag suspicious activity. Instead of shutting it down immediately, a company might escalate the issue, waiting for a security officer to manually review the activity and issue a judgment.
Meanwhile, the attacker makes away with sensitive data and gains access to credentials. Manual security processes stand no chance against sophisticated cyber attackers. To combat these attacks, companies must automate their security processes and trust their tools to get the job done.
The good news is account takeover prevention tools are sophisticated enough to handle major breaches. Companies can create custom approval workflows for complex incidents while automating the rest. The result is less workload on security admins and more focus on the issues that matter the most.
Phishing for Unused Credentials
Phishing is a common cybercrime tactic. However, phishers these days have switched to using unused entity credentials to infiltrate systems. Enterprise cybersecurity is still largely oriented toward monitoring and securing systems from human infiltration.
However, modern enterprises rely on several machines and automation tools to execute tasks. These machines often have hard-coded security credentials to smooth data access. While this results in fast development times, security pays the price.
An unused credential will have all the information an attacker needs to infiltrate a system, leading to a potential account takeover. When combined with manual security response procedures, it’s easy to see why companies suffer as many data breaches as they do.
Security postures are further compromised by the cloud-centric architecture many enterprises follow. This structure only increases the use of machines within the modern DevOps cycle, leading to potentially unused credentials.
Zero Trust (ZT) protocols solve these issues by instilling the right security philosophy. Practices such as agile credential access management and secure cryptography are common in ZT, minimizing the possibility of a breach.
A Proactive Approach
Companies must adopt a proactive approach to cybersecurity to remain relevant in the marketplace. Attackers are constantly changing their approach, and account takeovers are occurring more regularly. The tips in this article will help companies prevent such incidents and create a robust security framework.
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