{"id":14958,"date":"2023-11-28T12:15:28","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T12:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/tech\/?p=14958"},"modified":"2023-11-28T12:20:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T12:20:02","slug":"account-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/tech\/cyber-security\/account-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"ACCOUNT TAKEOVER: What Is It, How to Spot & Stop It?","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

When a hacker obtains control of a valid account, it’s known as account takeover fraud or account compromise. Unauthorized users gaining control of another person’s online account without consent, such as a bank account, email account, or social media profile, is known as account takeover fraud (ATO). This article entails everything you need to know about account takeover protection. I also added some tips on how to prevent account takeover. Let’s dive in now!<\/p>

What Is Account Takeover?<\/span><\/h2>

With the help of compromised login credentials, fraudsters can take control of user accounts in an assault known as Account Takeover (ATO). Many cybercriminals obtain a database of user credentials through social engineering, data breaches, or phishing attempts, and then sell those credentials on the dark web. They put these credentials to use by deploying bots to test passwords and usernames on a variety of different travel, retail, financial, e-commerce, and social media sites.<\/p>

When an attacker eventually compiles a list of validated credentials, they can benefit from selling or misusing the account. Identity theft is one of the consequences of account takeover attacks. Users often don’t rotate their passwords and frequently use the same combination of characters across many services. Account takeover by automated password guessing (also known as “credential stuffing”) or “brute force” attacks is facilitated by bots. Mobile sites, websites, and native mobile application APIs all have verification login pages that can be breached by cybercriminals. Once they have access, fraudsters can commit fraud and account takeover, such as by exploiting the user’s loyalty points.<\/p>

Account Takeover Attacks: How Do They Operate?<\/span><\/h2>

Although the fundamentals of an ATO attack are not particularly complicated, spotting one can be challenging. Let’s examine the fundamental procedures for gaining access to an unwary user’s internet account:<\/p>