Leaked Credentials Monitoring

Leaked credentials monitoring helps organizations identify user IDs and passwords involved in data breaches so that they can attempt to uplevel security on those accounts. In today’s largely cloud-based corporate environments, attackers use leaked credentials to gain initial access to resources, like databases or applications. To mitigate data breach risks, organizations should proactively identify and monitor for leaked credentials, especially ones that provide privileged access. 

Flare and Leaked Credentials Monitoring

How Flare enables leaked credentials monitoring

Flare’s automates dark, deep, and clear web scans as well as monitors illicit Telegram channels to identify mentions of a company, its users, or its domains in malicious actors communications. Additionally, our platform monitors anonymous sharing websites, like Pastebin, to identify a company or its email domain. With this information, organizations can take proactive steps, like requiring users to change their password, that mitigate data breach risks.  

Why Flare’s leaked credentials monitoring helps security teams

Security teams struggle to identify threats outside the network’s perimeter. However, in a modern digital infrastructure, leaked credentials make it easier for adversaries to gain a foothold in connected systems. Flare’s platform saves security teams time by automating searches across the cybercriminal ecosystem to help identify risky credentials. With these insights, security teams can improve security without increasing costs. 

Key benefits of Flare’s leaked credentials monitoring solution

Flare’s leaked credentials monitoring enables organization to:

• Monitor 16 billion leaked credentials
• Proactively identify data leaks and remediate risks before a data breach occurs
• Gain actionable alerts that filter through noise to identify true threats 

Leaked Credentials Monitoring: A Brief Overview

What are leaked credentials?

Leaked credentials refer to the unauthorized disclosure of login information that grants access to web-based accounts, like usernames and passwords. Some common types of credentials include those for:

• Email accounts
• Social media login
• Online bank accounts
• Corporate network access

Malicious actors can obtain these credentials through:

• Data breaches
• Phishing attacks
• Cybercriminal forums
• Illicit Telegram channels

Why are leaked credentials in demand?

Cybercriminal seek out leaked credentials for several reasons:

• Easy access to personal, financial, or organizations data
• Unauthorized access to online platforms, like social media, email, banking portals, corporate networks/applications
• Financial gain by perpetrating fraud through account takeover (ATO), including making unauthorized purchases or creating new accounts

In an account takeover, cybercriminals use credential stuffing to gain control of a person’s account, enabling them to act as the victim and use the account. They can exploit the personal data stored in the account for various nefarious purposes including:

• Identify theft
• Blackmail
• Selling the stolen information on the dark web

When cybercriminals sell leaked credentials on the dark web or in illicit Telegram channels, they usually provide them as combolists, files that contain a combination of username and passwords. Malicious actors use combolists to automate ATO attempts through credential stuffing which uses tools or bots to send access requests for multiple accounts simultaneously hoping that a person reused passwords across multiple platforms. 

How do credentials get leaked?

Credentials can be leaked through various means, including:

• Data breaches
• Phishing attacks
• Malware infections
• Human error

When remediating issues with leaked credentials, organizations should:

• Check the password: ensure it meets the company’s password policy and is hashed
• Verify the account: send a verification to the email to see if the account is still active
• Search known data breaches: review breach notification services or databases tracking compromised credentials, like haveIbeenpwned.com, to see if the leaked credentials have been previously compromised. 

Why Do You Need Leaked Credentials Monitoring in Today’s Cybersecurity Landscape?

What are the benefits of credential leak monitoring?

By monitoring for leaked credentials companies mitigate data breach risks and improve their security postures. Some key benefits include:

• Detecting and responding to credential-related security incidents by proactively identifying compromised accounts or passwords and taking actions to secure affected accounts. 
• Complying with data protection regulations and industry standards by demonstrating proactive monitoring to protect customer data. 
• Reducing overall data breach costs arising from brand reputation damage, legal fees, and fines. 

What types of credentials are often found with dark web monitoring tools?

Dark web monitoring tools  continually scan the dark web for stolen data, exposing various types of credentials that cybercriminals often obtain and sell. Some typical data found by these tools may include:

• Usernames and passwords: stolen login credentials, including usernames and passwords for various online platforms
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII): sensitive data such as full names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, and dates of birth
• Email addresses: email addresses used for phishing attacks, spamming, or sold to marketing companies
• Financial information: stolen credit card details, bank account numbers, and payment card information used to sell online or to perpetrate fraud
• Security question answers: information like mother’s maiden name or the name of a first pet 

What to look for in a compromised credentials monitoring platform

When selecting a compromised credentials monitoring platform, organizations should consider the following:

• Clear, deep, and dark web monitoring: To ensure data’s has the appropriate depth and breadth, the solution should be able to scan cybercriminal dark web forums as well as Pastebin sites and code repositories, like GitHub, that might contain hardcoded credentials
• Illicit Telegram channels: As cybercriminals increasingly use Telegram for sharing combolists and other large files, the solution should monitor these to identify as many locations as possible. 
• Curation: To receive actionable intelligence, the solution should be able to provide refined search results, identify relevant threats, and incorporate external feeds. 
• Translation capabilities: Since many cybercriminal forums use languages other than English, the solution should be able to translate these messages, including services for Russian, Arabic, Spanish, and French.

Leaked Credentials Monitoring and Flare

Flare provides the leading Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution for organizations. Our technology constantly scans the online world, including the clear & dark web, to discover unknown events, automatically prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security. Flare’s automated dark, deep, and clear web scans for leaded or stolen account credentials enable you to proactively identify credentials for sale and mitigate data breach risks. 

Our solution integrates into your security program in 30 minutes to provide your team with actionable intelligence and automated remediation for high-risk exposure. See it yourself with our free trial.