Account Takeover Fraud Detection

It can be difficult to detect account takeovers (ATOs). To find this sort of fraud before an incident, teams must be proactive about monitoring security for suspicious activity, like session hijacking or other takeover strategies. This can be difficult for a team of overworked analysts, however. Fortunately, automation and threat intelligence makes it easier for your team to be protective when it comes to detecting and preventing ATO fraud.

An Overview of Account Takeover Fraud Detection

What is account takeover fraud?

Account takeover fraud, or account takeover (ATO) is a type of identity fraud in which criminals gain access to a legitimate account and pretend to be the owner. While ATO fraud often happens in regard to financial accounts, such as bank accounts or credit cards, ATO fraudsters can target any kind of account, including social media, email, or work accounts. This stolen access allows the criminal to make changes, steal, and do damage to an individual or an organization.

How are accounts taken over?

Criminals use several methods to access accounts. Some of the most common include gaining access to credentials and logging in as the user, while other methods include accessing session tokens or stealing cookies in order to hijack a session, bypassing multifactor authentication (MFA). Credential theft happens in several ways:

Credential stuffing: Attackers often rely on previous data breaches and leaks to obtain large lists of stolen credentials, hoping that users have reused their passwords across multiple platforms, and trying those credentials until one works.
Spear-phishing: Spear-phishing attacks attempt to trick users into revealing login credentials by impersonating a legitimate entity, such as a bank, online service, or even an employer.
Malware: Threat actors use malware to steal session cookies from browsers in order to take over a user’s legitimate session or account.
Social engineering: Social engineering attacks use psychology to scam victims into revealing credentials. By posing as a trusted individual or organization, attackers try to persuade victims to provide login details.
Password spraying: In a password spraying attack, attackers try a small number of commonly used passwords against multiple accounts within an organization, bypassing account lockout policies.

How can ATO be detected?

Because of the tactics used by criminals to fraudulently access accounts, it can be difficult to detect account takeovers. However, there are some clear signs that point to ATO fraud:

Several login attempts or password reset notifications: A series of notifications about login information is a good sign that someone is trying to break into an account.
Unexpected changes to an account: If a new address or new billing information has been added to an account, that’s a sign an account has been taken over.
Unusual activity: Purchases, changes, and other activity a user doesn’t recognize may be a sign of an account takeover.
Logins from different locations: This can also indicate that a threat actor has been in an account.

Why is Account Takeover Fraud Detection Especially Relevant Now?

What is the importance of ATO detection in today’s cybersecurity landscape?

Research has shown that ATO fraud is becoming increasingly common; certain industries — such as s marketplaces, e-commerce, and ticketing— have been singled out for attacks more than others. With threat actors more focused than ever on account takeovers, it’s increasingly important to guard against this type of fraud.

What is the impact of an account takeover?

Account takeover fraud has a deep impact on both the individual user and an organization as a whole:

Financial cost: Threat actors often launch account takeovers specifically to steal financial resources.
Loss of proprietary or sensitive data: Attackers steal and take advantage of sensitive data, including personal information, intellectual property, and trade secrets. Threat actors can use this data for various malicious purposes, such as identity theft, industrial espionage, or future targeted attacks against the organization or its users.
Reputational loss: An ATO attack can damage the reputation of an organization. Customers may lose trust in the company’s ability to protect their data and negative press may impact the public perception of a company.
Legal consequences and costs: Organizations that fail to protect user data often face legal and regulatory penalties. Data breach notification laws require companies to inform affected users and, in some cases, government agencies about security incidents. Additionally, organizations may be held liable for damages resulting from inadequate security measures, leading to potential lawsuits and fines.

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How can account takeover fraud be prevented?

In general, more authentication is an important step toward preventing ATO fraud:

Password managers: Threat actors often target browsers. However, when passwords are stored in a manager, not a browser, risk of credential theft can be mitigated.
MFA: While cookies and session tokens are indeed being targeted by bad actors, they’re also still happy to go after passwords. Multi-factor authentication adds another layer of security to devices and accounts.
Employee training: By providing training, your organization can raise awareness and secure user accounts.
Threat intelligence: Continuous monitoring for stealer logs and other stolen information across the clear, deep, and dark web is a critical part of finding leaks and fixing vulnerabilities.

How Flare helps with Account Takeover Fraud Detection

Why do security teams use Flare to detect account takeover fraud?

Flare’s threat intelligence platform automatically monitors your public facing assets, as well as the web, to find suspicious activity before an account takeover occurs. This empowers them to take action fast, mitigating potential account takeovers before an incident leads to significant damage.

How can a threat intelligence platform detect account takeover fraud?

The more your team knows about a potential threat, the more quickly they can respond. Strong threat intelligence gives your team a leg up, helping them stay up-to-date on the latest account takeover tactics and techniques, as well as the most common signs of an account takeover. This information can be used to improve your threat monitoring efforts and more effectively identify potential threats and ATOs.

What are the key benefits of Flare’s threat intelligence management platform?

Continuous monitoring of your assets: Flare’s platform continuously monitors the dark and clear web as well as prominent threat actor communities, scanning for leaked data and assets. This continuous monitoring gives your team 24/7 coverage, so you will know as sensitive information appears in an unauthorized location.
A proactive security stance: By actively seeking out leaks and eavesdropping on hacker chatter, your team can catch compromises early, giving leadership and your team an opportunity to take steps to protect your data, systems, and networks.
Unparalleled data collection: Flare uses billions of data points to provide your team with information about your organization’s security stance, relevant threats, and the movement of threat actors between platforms.
Transparency: Flare lists every source so you can tell decision-makers exactly where every piece of threat intelligence data is coming from.