Account Takeover Attacks: How to Avoid Them?

Attacks Account Takeover (ATO) is a form of theft, often used by them Criminals. Attackers try to break into accounts users and use them to their advantage.

According to experts, this attack has increased significantly during the pandemic.

How does Account Takeover work?

Many times, the attack starts with one Phishing e-mail, which tricks the account holder into clicking on a document or downloading a virus that records its credentials. Email can have a sense of urgency, to make the user act immediately without thinking too much.

Account takeover can be done in different types of accounts: online bank accounts and credit cards, tax related accounts (eg for submitting false tax returns, email accounts, SOCIAL MEDIA accounts etc.

Account Takeover: Differences between corporate and personal accounts

When criminals take control of a corporate account, we talk about theft of "business identity". In this case, the criminals steal them online banking credentials of a business, while when they target personal accounts, they steal personally data. In the case of a corporate account, attackers can cause a lot of problems, such as sending money to alleged partners, stealing customer information for further attacks etc.

How can you protect your business from this type of fraud?

Look for employee information before hiring them: Recruitment during the pandemic brings its own unique challenges. You may not meet someone in person and do all the interviews at Internet. However, you need to make one Investigate the potential employee and check if he or she has ever been involved in a scam.

Train employees to identify key threats: Employees are the first line of defense. Having a strong training program can be a very effective way to prevent Account Takeover and other attacks.

Employees should be very careful when opening emails: Employees must be trained so that they do not open emails and links from unknown senders and not give their personal and financial details.

Train employees to detect signs that a system may have been compromised: These signs may be the inability to access files or websites, the dramatic slowdown, the unexpected restart computer, the inability to restart a computer or the presence of unusual pop-ups.

Track account activity: Regularly monitor your account activity to detect suspicious transactions.

Examine your partners' details: You need to know which ones businesses you have constant communication. Carefully check their email addresses, names and phone numbers to make sure the sender is indeed one of these companies before you open an email.

What to do if your business has been attacked by an Account Takeover?

Should stop any activity immediately from systems which may be violated. The next step is to notify her immediately bank you for him account that has been violated. Change credentials immediately and if money has been stolen, contact authorities.

Source: Infosecurity Magazine