Stolen credentials can enable account takeover and lateral movement; phishing-resistant MFA, password managers, and rapid revocation reduce the risk.
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Background for this topic.
Credentials are the data used to verify a user's identity to a system, commonly including usernames, passwords, security tokens, or biometric identifiers. They serve as gatekeepers for access to accounts, applications, and sensitive information. Attackers target credentials to impersonate users, escalate privileges, or gain unauthorized system access.
Compromise of credentials can occur through phishing, credential stuffing, or theft from insecure storage. Effective defenses include enforcing strong, unique passwords, implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA), and securely storing credentials using hashing or encryption. Monitoring for unusual login patterns and promptly revoking compromised credentials are also critical to limit attacker impact.
Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a new adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing kit that's capable of Microsoft 365 accounts with an aim to steal credentials and two-factor authentication (2FA) codes since at least October 2024
The Russian threat actor known as Star Blizzard has been linked to a new spear-phishing campaign that targets victims' WhatsApp accounts, signaling a departure from its longstanding tradecraft in a likely attempt to evade detection
You can tell the story of the current state of stolen credential-based attacks in three numbers: Stolen credentials were the #1 attacker action in 2023/24, and the breach vector for 80% of web app attacks. (Source: Verizon)
A new hacking group has leaked the configuration files, IP addresses, and VPN credentials for over 15,000 FortiGate devices for free on the dark web, exposing a great deal of sensitive technical information to other cybercriminals. [...]
Ironically, cybercriminals now use Google search advertisements to promote phishing sites that steal advertisers' credentials for the Google Ads platform. [...]
Cybersecurity researchers have alerted to a new malvertising campaign that's targeting individuals and businesses advertising via Google Ads by attempting to phish for their credentials via fraudulent ads on Google
Threat Actor 'Codefinger' Targets Cloud EnvironmentsA ransomware group is targeting Amazon S3 buckets, exploiting the data stored there using AWS’s server-side encryption with customer keys and demanding a ransom in exchange for the encryption key needed to unlock the data. The group uses compromised or publicly exposed AWS account credentials.
Browser-based cyber-threats surged in 2024, with credential abuse and infostealers on the rise