Definition
Account compromise is the unauthorized access of a user account for malicious purposes. Many things can cause this including weak passwords, phishing attacks, malware infection, and exploitation of vulnerabilities.
It poses significant risks, such as financial loss, identity theft, data breaches, and reputation damage. Some of the security measures you can implement to prevent account compromise include regularly updating your password and enabling multi-factor authentication.
How are Accounts Compromised?
- Weak passwords: Weak and easy-to-guess passwords give attackers easier access to accounts.
- Phishing: Attackers use this social engineering technique to trick users into revealing their sensitive information, like login credentials.
- Brute-force attacks: An attacker systematically tries many password combinations until they get the right one to access an account. The best way to mitigate the risk of a brute-force attack is to limit login attempts, use strong passwords, and use multifactor authentication.
- Malware and keyloggers: Hackers can infect a user’s device with malicious software, like remote access trojans (RATs) and keyloggers, to record keystrokes and anything you type on your keyboard.
Account Compromise Consequences
- Identity theft: An attacker can impersonate a compromised account owner to do malicious activities or breach other accounts associated with the compromised account.
- Access to sensitive information: Attackers can access sensitive information, confidential files and personal data of a compromised account.
- Phishing and spamming: Hackers can use a compromised account to send phishing messages or spam emails. They trick their victims into revealing sensitive data or spreading malware.
- Data manipulation or deletion: An attacker can modify, delete, or corrupt the data of a compromised account, which can cause data loss or disruption of services.
- Financial fraud: The attacker can purchase items, make unauthorized transactions, and steal funds if the compromised account is linked with an online shopping or financial service.
How to Spot a Compromised Account
- Unusual outbound traffic: When stealing data, an attacker will send the information to an external network, causing higher-than-usual outbound traffic.
- Suspect user activity on sensitive data: High-privilege users have a predictable way of accessing sensitive information, such as at a specific time or day. Unusual activity may indicate a breach.
- Increased failed authentication requests: Attackers use as many attempts as possible to access an account with a brute-force attack. An account with login attempt limits can detect failed login attempts.
- Network requests from unusual locations: Requests from suspicious IP addresses or unusual locations indicate account compromise.
- Unusual configuration changes: Attackers can change the system configuration to get persistent backdoor access.
- Increased traffic to specific addresses: An attacker can use a compromised account or device as a botnet in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
How to Safeguard Online Accounts
- Enable multi-factor authentication
- Avoid sharing passwords insecurely
- Use unique and strong passwords
- Be cautious with public Wi-Fi networks
- Spot phishing and social engineering attempts
- Avoid clicking on unsolicited links or attempts
- Monitor your account regularly
- Back up your data