Effective Ways to Prevent Account Takeover Attacks

The internet has become a crucial part of our daily life. We use it to study online, connect with friends and family, meet life partners, purchase products, and much more. With the internet becoming a fundamental aspect, cybercriminals have used this as an opportunity to make money illegally. Account takeover is one of the techniques cybercriminals are using to obtain user information and online accounts.

With account takeover frauds increasing by the day, it would be best to learn more about this vice. This comprehensive guide will discuss how to protect your online accounts from account takeover fraud.

What Exactly is Account Takeover?

Popularly known as ATO, account takeover is a type of identity theft in which cybercriminals illegally obtain users’ online accounts such as banks, e-commerce sites, or any other online account. They usually use bots to gain access to online accounts. In most cases, these attacks lead to unauthorized transactions and other activities.

To gain illegal access to your online account, attackers usually use two methods-credential stuffing and credential cracking. Credential stuffing occurs when attackers illegally obtain your account information and use it to try to log in to multiple accounts. Cybercriminals use bots to obtain your username and password.

Credential cracking or brute-forcing occurs when attackers attempt to gain access into your account by using multiple user information obtained from various sources. The user information is usually made public by malicious hackers and attackers.

Why Does Account Takeover Occur?

There are several reasons why attackers take over accounts. One of the main reasons why account takeover frauds have been on the rise is selfish monetary gains. In most cases, these attacks are related to funds transfer, illegal transactions, unauthorized shopping, and more illegal financial activities. However, monetary gain is not the only reason why fraudsters go to such great lengths. It is vital to note that this vice is also associated with reputation damage. Competitors can also compromise your online accounts to reduce brand awareness, confidence, and trust.

Can You Stop Account Takeovers?

You will be glad to know that you do not have to be a victim of account takeovers. All you have to do is to employ a proactive approach. Attackers will never compromise your online accounts’ safety when you combine a proactive approach with the right techniques.

How to Prevent Account Takeover?

So, how can you prevent credential stuffing and brute force attacks? Keep reading to discover how to create effective account takeover prevention measures:

Be on the Lookout for Compromised Credentials The first thing you can do to win the war against account takeover is to be wary of compromised credentials. Cybercriminals have to obtain user information to access your online account. To protect your users, you should create a database with new user credentials and the breached credentials. Compare the two to identify users who are still trying to log in using breached information. Contact them immediately to find out why it is still happening. Always check the database to identify compromised accounts early on and prevent account takeover.

• Rate Limiting

Checking for compromised credentials without incorporating other techniques is not enough. That is why you should introduce new techniques such as rate-limiting. Rate limiting refers to the process of blocking applications, bots, or users that are abusing your web property. Rate limiting a stop account takeover accounts. You can do this by restricting login attempts to users’ suspicious behavior. Rate limiting according to users’ VPN and proxies will also help.

• Notify Your Users About Account Changes

Another cheap and effective way of dealing with account takeover is by notifying users about account changes. Sending notifications to your users to let them know about account changes. It will allow you to identify fraudulent web activity on your web property. Even if the attackers breach your account, you will be better positioned to reverse the changes and minimize the damage.

• Two-Factor Authentication

You can win the battle against account takeover attacks by introducing two-factor authentication. Also known as 2FA, two-factor authentication requires users to provide additional information to access to log in. This means that cybercriminals will have to provide additional information to access the online account. However, it would help if you created a balance to enhance the user experience. The best way of doing that is by limiting suspicious devices and IP addresses from accessing the online account before completing 2FA.

• Pre-Determined Questions

The next thing you can do to protect your online accounts from account takeover is by asking users to answer security questions to login. Although this is a basic security measure, it will go a long way towards discouraging malicious hackers and attackers.

• IP Bock-Listing

In most cases, attackers use the same IP address when trying to login. Identifying these malicious IP addresses will go a long way towards helping you to stop account takeover attacks. However, you might lock out genuine users if you are not careful. To mitigate this risk, it is wise to lock out IP addresses trying to login using breached passwords.

• Device Tracking

Device tracking will also help you mitigate these attacks. You can identify suspicious login attempts when you monitor your users’ login attempts. For instance, you might stop a malicious login attempt if it keeps happening hundreds of miles away from the user.

• Sandboxing

Sandboxing refers to the practice of isolating applications from vital programs and resources to mitigate the risk of malware. By sandboxing suspicious accounts, you can track all activity and stop all malicious activity.

• Web Application Firewall

Web Application Firewall or WAFs can help you block these attacks by employing targeted policies. To help you understand, WAFs can help you identify malicious bots and brute force attacks to stop account takeover and other threats.

Final Thoughts

Protecting your website from account takeover and other threats is vital. A compromised website will harm brand identity, trust, and confidence. This is not to mention the financial losses you will incur. These strategies will help you win the war against account takeover attacks.