Discover the crucial risks affecting your company and the malicious actors behind them. Our experts at Cybersixgill shed light on illicit activities, the involved threat actors, and the reasons for concern, as well as strategies to reduce risk.
In the current landscape of cyber threats, safeguarding personal and business identities has become crucial. If cybercriminals gain access to compromised credentials and accounts, they can breach sensitive corporate data and use it as a gateway to launch costly ransomware and other malicious attacks.
For effective mitigation of threats arising from compromised credentials and accounts, organizations require identity insights. Recognizing the importance of identity intelligence and the advantages it offers is fundamental to maintaining robust security and reducing risks.
There is a belief that security teams and threat analysts are already overwhelmed with excessive data. In this regard, introducing another stream of cyber threat intelligence could further burden their workflows and exceed their capacity to take meaningful actions.
Nevertheless, when threat intelligence is specific and pertinent to the organization and its potential attack vectors, the challenge of data overload is eliminated. Incorporating identity intelligence enables security teams to easily identify compromised credentials in the cybercriminal ecosystem and take preemptive actions before any harm occurs. Here is how.
The Importance of Identity Insights
Organizations consist of individuals, each of whom can be a target for identity-related threats. Compromised credentials stand out as a prevalent and potent method for threat actors to achieve their objectives, with millions of credentials leaked and traded on underground markets annually.
Cybercriminals resort to various tactics to acquire credentials. Phishing schemes, which involve deceptive emails aimed at tricking recipients into revealing their credentials, represent one approach. Another increasingly popular method is Stealer Malware, a category of malware that extracts usernames, passwords, cookies, and other data from infected systems.
Want to delve deeper? Check out our catch-up webinar Exploring the Potential of Identity Insights. Alternatively, you can grab our eBook on Recognizing Leakages in Credentials.
Other tactics include brute force attacks, where threat actors use tools to automatically generate passwords and then test them sequentially to gain access to a user account, and social engineering techniques, where threat actors manipulate users into divulging sensitive details. Some estimates suggest that by attempting one million random email and password combinations, attackers can potentially compromise between 10,000 and 30,000 accounts.
Studies indicate that in 2022, the average cost of a data breach due to stolen or leaked credentials was $4.5 million, a figure that continues to rise. Can your organization afford such a substantial risk?
Strong security measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and consistent, stringent employee training and adherence to data protection protocols can help reduce vulnerability to this kind of threat. Nonetheless, mistakes happen. And when they occur, security teams must be promptly alerted upon the discovery of any compromised access in illicit dark web marketplaces. This is where identity intelligence plays a crucial role.
The Functionality of Identity Insights in Combatting Identity Threats
With comprehensive threat intelligence sourced from millions of data points spanning underground sources on the open, deep, and dark web, organizations can access detailed data and insights on compromised credentials and accounts, allowing them to take preventive actions. As mentioned earlier, these leaked credentials provide threat actors with an effortless entry into the organization, impacting business operations, employees, and customers—individuals whose personal data may be compromised and sold on the black market.
Cybersixgill’s Identity Insights stands out by incorporating machine learning and AI technologies. It notifies organizations when leaked or traded credentials are detected, offering extensive context and information to assist in threat mitigation. Essentially, we provide security teams with a streamlined overview of the risks facing their organizations, uncovering identity theft, leaked credentials (including usernames and passwords), and typosquatting activities.
By leveraging our threat intelligence, security teams can pinpoint the likely source of a data breach and halt the sale of stolen credentials and credit card details to safeguard employees and customers. Users can configure personalized alerts to notify them of leaked credential data on the deep and dark web from sources like instant messaging platforms, IRC chats, and exclusive dark web forums and marketplaces.
Wrapping Up
Preserving personal and business identities is essential in today’s cyber threat environment, where compromised credentials can lead to severe security breaches and financial repercussions. Identity intelligence serves as a critical tool, providing relevant and contextual threat data that helps organizations effectively identify and address compromised credentials.
By harnessing Cybersixgill’s machine learning and AI-enhanced Identity Insights, security teams can proactively recognize and mitigate risks, ensuring robust protection for both employees and customers. Ultimately, the strategic application of identity intelligence strengthens an organization’s defenses and encourages a proactive cybersecurity approach, reducing potential harm from identity-related threats.
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