Account takeover is a severe cybersecurity threat where an attacker gains unauthorized access to a user's online account. This can happen to any online account, from social media and email to banking and e-commerce platforms. Once the attacker has control, they can:  

  • Steal sensitive data: Personal information, financial details, confidential business data  

  • Make fraudulent transactions: Transfer funds, make unauthorized purchases  

  • Spread malware: Use the compromised account to distribute malware to other users  

  • Damage reputation: Post malicious content, spread misinformation, or engage in other harmful activities that tarnish the account owner's reputation  

  • Disrupt operations: Lock legitimate users out of their accounts, hinder business processes, and cause downtime.  

How ThreatNG Helps Mitigate ATO

ThreatNG's comprehensive capabilities make it a powerful solution in the fight against account takeover:

  • Proactive Monitoring: ThreatNG continuously monitors the external attack surface, including the deep and dark web, for compromised credentials, leaked data, and signs of account takeover attempts. This allows for early detection and rapid response to potential threats.  

  • Vulnerability Assessment: ThreatNG assesses your organization's susceptibility to attack vectors that can lead to ATO, such as phishing, social engineering, and web application vulnerabilities. Identifying these weaknesses allows you to prioritize remediation efforts.

  • Brand Protection: ThreatNG monitors social media and online platforms for brand impersonations and phishing campaigns to steal user credentials. This helps protect your brand reputation and prevents users from falling victim to ATO attacks.

  • Supply Chain Security: ThreatNG assesses the security posture of your third-party vendors and suppliers, identifying potential risks in your supply chain that could lead to ATO, such as compromised vendor accounts or data breaches.

Complementary Solutions/Services

ThreatNG can be further enhanced by integrating with complementary solutions and services:

  • Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Integrate ThreatNG's findings with your SIEM to correlate external threat intelligence with internal security logs, providing a holistic view of potential ATO activity.

  • Identity and Access Management (IAM): Leverage ThreatNG's insights to strengthen IAM policies, implement multi-factor authentication (MFA), and enforce strong password policies.

  • Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Integrate ThreatNG with EDR solutions to detect and respond to malicious activity on endpoints that may indicate an ongoing ATO attempt.

  • Threat Intelligence Platforms: To better understand the threat landscape, enhance ThreatNG's intelligence repositories with data from other threat intelligence platforms.

  • Security Awareness Training: Educate employees about ATO risks, phishing scams, and best practices for online security to reduce the likelihood of successful attacks.  

Leveraging ThreatNG's Investigation Modules

ThreatNG's investigation modules provide valuable data for ATO prevention and response:

  • Domain Intelligence: Identify suspicious domain registrations mimicking your organization's domain, which could be used for phishing or credential theft. Analyze DNS records, certificates, and exposed APIs to uncover vulnerabilities attackers could exploit for ATO.

  • Social Media: Monitor social media for mentions of your organization, identify potential phishing links or malicious posts, and track sentiment to gauge brand reputation and potential ATO-related damage.  

  • Sensitive Code Exposure: Identify exposed code repositories or mobile apps that may contain sensitive information like API keys or passwords, which could be exploited for ATO.  

  • Search Engine Exploitation: Uncover sensitive information exposed through search engines, such as login pages, directories, or user data, that attackers could leverage for ATO.  

  • Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Identify misconfigured or exposed cloud services and SaaS applications that could be vulnerable to ATO. Monitor for unauthorized access or suspicious activity within these platforms.  

  • Online Sharing Exposure: Detect sensitive information shared on code-sharing platforms or online forums that could be used for ATO.

  • Dark Web Presence: Identify leaked credentials, mentions of your organization in underground forums, or ransomware events that could indicate a heightened risk of ATO.  

  • Technology Stack: Understand your organization's technology stack to identify potential vulnerabilities and prioritize security measures for systems critical for preventing ATO.  

Examples

  • Phishing Detection: ThreatNG's Domain Intelligence module identifies a newly registered domain resembling your company's website. Further investigation reveals that the domain hosts a phishing page to steal employee credentials.

  • Compromised Credentials: ThreatNG's Dark Web Presence module detects employee credentials being traded on an underground forum. This allows you to reset passwords and prevent ATO proactively.

  • Vulnerable Web Application: ThreatNG's Search Engine Exploitation module identifies a publicly accessible login page for a critical web application. This vulnerability can be addressed to prevent unauthorized access and ATO.

  • Exposed API Keys: ThreatNG's Sensitive Code Exposure module discovers API keys for a critical service exposed in a public code repository. This allows you to revoke the exposed keys and prevent unauthorized access.  

By effectively utilizing ThreatNG's capabilities and integrating it with complementary solutions and services, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of account takeover and protect their valuable assets and reputation.