Credential theft is a huge problem for organizations. You have to protect the data in your system while also ensuring employees are proactive about their account security.
Threat actors love to have access to credentials as there is no need to hack into an account with the correct username and password.
Organizations must equip themselves with the right tools to ensure their credentials stay secure. It may mean adopting more than a strong password policy.
Credential Management: Brief Overview
What is meant by credential management?
Credential management is a security practice that protects passwords, passkeys, and other authentication methods. It involves various strategies, technologies, and policies to ensure login credentials are properly stored and protected from cybercriminals.
Threat actors use phishing scams, brute force attacks, and credential stuffing to enter an organization’s system. Once inside, they cause issues like data breaches or business email compromise scams. Compromised credentials have devastating consequences for organizations.
What are the benefits of credential management?
There are primarily three goals of credential management:
- Allow only authorized users to access sensitive information
- Streamline the digital credentials process
- Enforce security policies and access privileges throughout an organization
Credential management also has additional benefits, including:
- Compliance with regulations and industry standards
- Improved operational efficiency
- Mitigation of insider threats
What are the types of credentials?
Credentials help identify and verify a user’s identity. It’s like the key to a lock. If the key fits, the lock will open. Credentials work the same way. There are multiple types of credentials, including:
- Usernames and passwords: The most common credential uses a username combined with a password. The account security hinges on whether the user chooses a strong, complex, and unique password.
- Biometrics: Examples include voice recognition, facial recognition, and fingerprint scans. Biometrics are considered highly secure since it’s unique to each individual.
- Hardware tokens: Physical devices that generate a secure code like OTP tokens, key fobs, or smart cards.
- Software tokens: Apps that generate one-time codes like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator.
- Cryptographic credentials: A public key and a private key are used by two parties to verify identities or transactions.
- Device recognition: Devices can locally store credentials which can make it easier to verify the authenticity of a login request.
Depending on your organization’s needs, you may find one credential more efficient than the others. You may also want to consider multi-factor authentication (MFA) to combine two credentials.
For example, the correct login credentials may also prompt a code sent to a recognized device. Entering the code will confirm the user’s identity. MFA adds a crucial layer of security.
Key functions of credential management
Credential management systems focus on creating, storing, and organizing credentials securely. They are also equipped with tools to automate credential renewal and implement strong password policies.
Many organizations also choose to implement the principle of least privilege. It ensures employees only have access to the resources they need to do their job. Role-based access control can help minimize damage in an account takeover.
Organizations should also consider monitoring the dark web for leaked credentials. Web monitoring can also cover illicit Telegram channels, code repositories, and dark web forums. Credential theft monitoring can help security teams respond to threats faster.
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Why is Credential Management Important Today?
Credentials are extremely lucrative for cybercriminals. They can sell credentials on the dark web, hack accounts, steal data and money, and engage in identity theft.
But organizations are slow to realize they’ve been compromised. Research from IBM and Ponemon Institute reveals that data breaches involving lost or stolen credentials take 292 days to identify and contain.
What tools are needed to monitor credential theft?
Preventing credential theft involves more than strong password policies and enabling MFA. Organizations should take it a step further by also monitoring the web for stolen and leaked credentials.
However, dark web monitoring isn’t an easy task. It’s necessary to use a threat exposure management solution to find potential leaks. The solution can search the dark web, forums, and social media channels to discover compromised credentials.
Challenges in credential management
Leaked credentials are a significant issue for organizations. Employees could fall victim to a phishing email and share credentials with a threat actor impersonating a trusted source. Some other challenges include:
- Weak passwords: Employees choose simple passwords that are easy to remember but are also easy for threat actors to guess.
- User password fatigue: Employees may get frustrated by needing to remember multiple, unique passwords.
- Sharing credentials with colleagues: During the onboarding process, employees may share login credentials without proper security.
- Maintaining inactive accounts: Decommissioning accounts from former employees reduces the risk of stolen credentials.
- Not updating passwords: Passwords need regular updates to reduce the risk of compromise. However, you don’t want to do this so often that it causes user password fatigue.
- Insecure password storage: Storing passwords in an unsecured spreadsheet increases the risk of a data breach.
Luckily, many of these challenges are managed with employee awareness and training. Credential management can also help enforce strong password policies and store passwords safely.
Security teams can address credential management challenges by implementing strategies that prioritize both security and user experience.
How Flare Helps with Credential Management
How does Flare monitor for compromised credentials?
Flare uses a Threat Exposure Management solution to scan the dark, deep, and clear web continuously. It looks for mentions of your company name, employees, domains, IP addresses, and other key information to detect compromised credentials. Flare immediately alerts your security team of a potential leak which allows for a quicker response to contain the threat.
Why do security teams choose Flare?
Manual searches on the dark web aren’t a feasible possibility for security teams. Flare’s automated platform simplifies the process of credential theft monitoring. The solution provides immediate alerts and insights into compromised credentials. Other benefits include:
- Proactive cybersecurity that continuously scans the clear and dark web for compromised credentials.
- Identifies leaks and remediates risks before a data breach occurs.
- Gain immediate, actionable alerts to identify true threats.
- Strengthens compliance with data privacy regulations.
Credential Management with Flare
The Flare Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution empowers organizations to proactively detect, prioritize, and mitigate the types of exposures commonly exploited by threat actors.
Our platform automatically scans the clear & dark web and prominent threat actor communities 24/7 to discover unknown events, prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security. It also monitors for stolen credentials on the dark web ensuring that your team can respond to breaches quickly.
Flare integrates into your security program in 30 minutes and often replaces several SaaS and open source tools. Learn more by signing up for our free trial.
