As our digital lives continue to expand, so do the threats we face. One such menacing yet often overlooked cybersecurity risk is credential stuffing attacks. With billions of leaked credentials circulating in the dark corners of the internet, it’s crucial to understand how these attacks work and how to protect ourselves. In this comprehensive guide, we provide a deep dive into credential stuffing examples and effective detection methods to combat them.
Short Summary
- Credential stuffing attacks are a serious threat due to data breaches and weak/reused passwords, accounting for over one-third of online login attempts in 2020.
- Organizations can protect themselves by implementing multi-factor authentication, monitoring login patterns, and deploying bot detection measures.
- Best practices include strengthening password policies, regularly updating security measures, and utilizing a proactive bot detection software.
Credential Stuffing in Action: Real-life Examples
The Ticketfly Breach
In 2018, the Ticketfly platform was a victim of a credential stuffing attack, leading to the exposure of the data of 27 million accounts. The attacker exploited a vulnerability in the platform’s website to gain unauthorized access, impacting thousands of consumers and event organizers.
Starling Bank Incident
Starling Bank fell victim to a credential stuffing attack in 2019. Criminals tried to access accounts using leaked username/password data, with a success rate of 0.23%. This small percentage translates to significant financial loss and reputation damage.
The Deliveroo Dilemma
Food delivery giant, Deliveroo, was also impacted by credential stuffing. Customers reported mysterious transactions on their accounts, with orders made in various locations globally. Attackers leveraged stolen credentials to access user accounts, exploiting the platform’s lack of two-factor authentication.
Understanding Credential Stuffing Attacks
Credential stuffing attacks are a growing menace, accounting for over one-third of online login attempts, with 193 billion such attacks recorded in 2020 alone. These attacks involve the use of stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to user accounts, typically facilitated by data breaches and the use of weak or reused passwords. Unlike brute force attacks, which attempt to crack passwords through sheer force, credential stuffing leverages readily available compromised credentials, making it particularly insidious and difficult to defend against.
While data breaches and weak passwords may seem unrelated, they play a significant role in enabling credential stuffing attacks. Let’s delve deeper into the role of data breaches and the problem with weak and reused passwords in facilitating these attacks.
The role of data breaches
Data breaches are incidents in which confidential information, such as user credentials, is accessed without the permission of the system’s owner. These breaches often result in the disclosure of user credentials, which can then be exploited in credential stuffing attacks. Cybercriminals can obtain compromised credentials from data breaches, as well as leaked or hacked credentials available on online forums or dark web marketplaces.
The exposure of sensitive data in breaches can lead to dire consequences, such as identity theft, financial fraud, and phishing attacks. Once in the hands of cybercriminals, this sensitive data enables them to launch massive credential stuffing attacks, making it crucial for security teams to prioritize data breach prevention.
The problem with weak and reused passwords
A weak password is one that can be easily guessed or cracked by an attacker, usually lacking complexity, such as using common words, simple patterns, or personal information. Reusing the same password across multiple accounts can also compromise the security of an account or system. Weak and reused passwords significantly increase the risk of successful credential stuffing attacks, as attackers can leverage the same login information across multiple user accounts.
Many users reuse their passwords across multiple services, making it easier for attackers to gain access to numerous accounts with minimal effort. This practice of password reuse is a boon for cybercriminals, allowing them to maximize the potential for unauthorized access and account takeover.
To mitigate the risk of credential stuffing attacks, it’s essential to promote the use of strong, unique passwords for all accounts.
Key Strategies for Detecting Credential Stuffing Attacks
Detecting credential stuffing attacks can be challenging due to their automated nature, but not impossible. Below are essential strategies to mitigate these attacks.
Track Login Attempts
Keep a close eye on failed login attempts. A sudden surge could indicate an ongoing credential stuffing attack.
Identify Unusual Traffic Patterns
Credential stuffing is automated, resulting in rapid-fire login attempts that can spike traffic unexpectedly. These patterns can be a red flag for possible attacks.
Analyze Geographical Login Information
If your system shows logins from unusual geographic locations or multiple places simultaneously, it’s likely a credential stuffing attack.
Monitor Account Changes
Keep track of sudden changes to account details like email addresses, passwords, and phone numbers, as they may be indicators of credential stuffing attacks.
Credential Stuffing Attacks by Industry
Credential stuffing attacks are not limited to specific industries. In fact, they have been observed targeting multiple sites from the financial sector to e-commerce platforms. Real-life examples of these attacks demonstrate their potential impact and the importance of understanding the threat they pose.
Organizations must take proactive steps to protect themselves from credential stuffing attacks.
Financial sector attacks
Financial sector attacks involve the unauthorized access of bank accounts, resulting in financial fraud and loss. Over 30 billion malicious login attempts have been observed in the financial sector, targeting online accounts and financial services organizations. In 2020 alone, 3.4 billion of the 193 billion global credential stuffing attacks targeted financial services organizations.
The impact of these attacks can be devastating, leading to financial loss, fraud, and identity theft, as well as reputational damage for the affected organizations. As the financial sector continues to face such threats, it’s crucial for organizations to adopt robust security measures to protect their customers and assets.
E-commerce platform attacks
E-commerce platform attacks refer to malicious attempts to gain access to user accounts on e-commerce platforms, such as online stores, with the objective of stealing customer data, making unauthorized purchases, or taking over accounts. A notable example of such an attack occurred against North Face customers, resulting in approximately 200 accounts being compromised.
The potential repercussions of e-commerce platform credential stuffing attacks may include account takeovers, fraudulent purchases, and compromised customer data. As e-commerce continues to grow in popularity, the need to secure these platforms from credential stuffing attacks becomes increasingly important.
Challenges in Defending Against Credential Stuffing
Defending against credential stuffing attacks can be a challenging task, as attackers often blend in with genuine users and employ constantly evolving techniques to bypass security measures.
By understanding these challenges and adopting a proactive approach, organizations can stay ahead of the threat and ensure the security of their systems and users.
Blending in with legitimate users
Attackers employ various techniques to blend in with legitimate users, such as using sophisticated bots to check a vast number of username/password combinations and cycling through them to gain access to accounts. This enables them to masquerade as legitimate users and bypass security measures, making it difficult for organizations to differentiate between genuine and malicious users.
To effectively combat attackers who blend in with legitimate users, organizations must employ a combination of security measures, such as monitoring login patterns, implementing MFA, and utilizing bot detection solutions. By adopting a multi-layered security approach, organizations can more effectively detect and prevent credential stuffing attacks.
Evolving attack techniques
The constant evolution of attack techniques presents a significant challenge for organizations looking to defend against credential stuffing attacks. As attackers develop new methods to bypass security measures, organizations must continually update their defenses to stay ahead of the threat. This requires ongoing investment in security infrastructure, employee training, and threat intelligence to ensure the effectiveness of their defenses.
To stay ahead of evolving attack techniques, organizations must adopt a proactive approach, regularly updating their security measures and adopting the latest bot detection tools and response plans. By remaining vigilant and adapting to the ever-changing threat landscape, organizations can effectively defend themselves against credential stuffing attacks.
Best Practices for Protecting Against Credential Stuffing Attacks
In the face of credential stuffing attacks, organizations must adopt a comprehensive set of best practices to effectively protect their systems and users. By strengthening password policies, educating employees on the risks associated with credential stuffing, and regularly updating security measures, organizations can greatly reduce the risk of unauthorized access and account takeovers.
Strengthening password policies
Implementing strong password policies is a crucial step in protecting against credential stuffing attacks. Organizations should require users to create passwords that are at least 8 characters long and include a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Additionally, promoting the use of unique passwords for all accounts helps prevent unauthorized access to multiple accounts in the event that a single password is compromised.
Employee education and awareness
Employee education and awareness play a critical role in preventing credential leaks and improving an organization’s overall security posture. By providing training on the risks associated with credential stuffing and the importance of strong password practices, organizations can empower their employees to take an active role in protecting their accounts and the organization as a whole. Regular security awareness training sessions, along with the implementation of strong password policies, can help organizations reduce the likelihood of credential leaks and minimize the risk of credential stuffing attacks.
Implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a security measure that requires additional verification methods in addition to a username and password. By adding an extra layer of security, MFA makes it more difficult for attackers to gain unauthorized access to accounts, even if they have obtained the correct login credentials. MFA can be integrated with device fingerprinting to provide additional layers of protection, allowing the security system to detect any aberrant behavior and confirm the account is being accessed by a legitimate user.
Implementing MFA across an organization’s systems can greatly reduce the risk of credential stuffing attacks, providing a stronger security posture and ensuring the safety of sensitive data. As cyber threats continue to evolve, the adoption of MFA becomes increasingly important for organizations looking to protect themselves and their users.
Monitoring login patterns and failed login attempts
Monitoring login patterns is essential in detecting potential credential stuffing attacks, as it can help identify unusual activity, such as multiple failed login attempts from the same IP address or multiple logins from different IP addresses in a short period of time. Various approaches can be taken to monitor login patterns, such as analyzing system logs, monitoring geolocation data, utilizing specialized login/logout monitoring tools, and enabling real-time log monitoring.
By closely monitoring failed login attempts, organizations can identify potential credential stuffing attacks early on, enabling them to take swift action to protect their systems and users. This proactive approach can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access and account compromise.
Regularly updating security measures
Regularly updating security measures is essential for staying ahead of emerging threats and maintaining effective defenses against credential stuffing attacks. Organizations should implement the latest bot detection software to prevent automated credential stuffing attacks.
Bot detection
Effective bot management aims to identify and differentiate between legitimate human traffic and potentially harmful bot traffic. It offers organizations a proactive strategy and approach to stopping the automation that attackers need to leverage in order to launch credential stuffing attacks at scale. Effective bot mitigation solutions can not only accurately distinguish between benign and malicious bot traffic, both identifying and preventing harmful attacks. They can also defend against reverse engineering attempts, meaning that they stay effective even when highly motivated and sophisticated attackers attempt to work their way around your bot detection solution.
Secure Your Data with Kasada’s Bot Detection
Credential stuffing attacks pose a significant threat to organizations and users alike, exploiting data breaches, weak passwords, and evolving attack techniques to gain unauthorized access to accounts. By understanding these attacks and adopting a combination of best practices, including bot mitigation, organizations can effectively defend against malicious data breaches and safeguard their sensitive data. With Kasada you don’t just get a modern bot mitigation solution, you get a partner. Our threat intelligence team is constantly monitoring botting communities and using those learnings to update defenses immediately. Giving you protection that stays a step ahead of evolving threats. To learn more about Kasada and how its solution can protect your business and customers from the ever-present menace that is credential stuffing, request a demo today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is credential stuffing and how does it attack?
Credential stuffing is a type of cyberattack in which attackers use lists of compromised user credentials to breach into a system. Hackers obtain stolen usernames and passwords from one organization, either through a data breach or by purchasing them off the dark web, and then try to use them to gain unauthorized access to user accounts at another organization.
The attack typically uses bots for automation and scale and is based on the assumption that many users reuse usernames and passwords across multiple services.
What does credential stuffing look like?
Credential stuffing is a type of cyberattack wherein attackers use lists of stolen usernames and passwords to gain unauthorized access to user accounts on other systems. Attackers often use bots for automation and scale, assuming that many users reuse their usernames and passwords across multiple services.
What is an example of credential theft?
An example of credential theft is threat actors hosting fake authentication pages to harvest legitimate credentials for cloud services such as Microsoft Office 365, Okta or webmail accounts, which they then use to attempt to access victim accounts.
These credentials can be used to gain access to sensitive data, such as financial information, customer records, or intellectual property. They can also be used to launch further attacks, such as ransomware or phishing campaigns.
Is credential stuffing a DDoS attack?
Credential stuffing is not a type of DDoS attack, as it attempts to gain access by cycling through different credentials rather than bombarding the server with requests. However, it can still be a serious security threat, as it can be used to gain access to accounts and systems.
What are some effective methods for detecting and preventing credential stuffing attacks?
Monitoring login patterns and failed attempts, implementing MFA, and utilizing bot detection can effectively detect and prevent credential stuffing attacks.
