Hackers skip the siege and simply sign in. How do we stop them?
Compromised credentials and how to prevent it from happening to your organisation | OneDot61
Hackers skip the siege and simply sign in. How do we stop them?
Gone are the days of elaborate breaches and complex exploits by hackers. These cyber attackers have found a shortcut to success – they simply sign in.
But how did we get here? The path of least resistance - exploiting compromised credentials to gain access to sensitive systems and data with minimal effort.
In this article, we’ll take you through all the ins and outs of compromised credentials and how to prevent it from happening to your organisation.
What are compromised credentials and how do they pose a threat to your organisation?
Whether obtained through phishing or data breaches, compromised credentials grant attackers unauthorised access to sensitive systems, data, and resources.
This can then spread to other hosts in different ways, such as:
- Using known vulnerabilities in nearby systems
- Stealing credentials from compromised systems and using them on other systems in the network
- Finding and encrypting files on network shares, mapped drives, and other accessible resources
Once inside your network, hackers can wreak havoc, causing financial losses, tarnishing reputations, and disrupting operations.
So, how do you prevent compromised credentials?
There are a number of systems, policies and processes you can implement to both help prevent your organisation being subject to compromised credentials, including continously assessing the effectiveness of your credential policies.
This involves regularly evaluating password strength, enfocing multi-factor authentication (MFA), and implementing strong identity and access management (IAM) practises.
By doing so, organisations can ensure they’re not unwittingly providing a welcome mat for hackers.
But what is the best way to ensure ongoing verification policies? Penetration testing.
The role of penetration testing
Penetration testing is essential for organisations seeking to pinpoint vulnerabilities and enhance their security posture against hackers looking for compromised credentials.
By simulating real-world cuber attacks, organisations can take proactive measure to help strengthen their security posture, making it more resilient against potential cyber threats.
At OneDot61, we provide penetration testing services to proactively protect organisations' networks and infrastructures from exploitation by threat actors.
Insights from a penetration test can guide the enhancement of security protocols and procedures. This may involve refining access controls, password policies, and other security measures to divert unauthorised access and prevent data breaches.
By discovering these vulnerabilities, we can quickly address them, shrinking the potential targets for even further attacks such as malware and ransomware.
This is crucial, as ransomware attacks can leverage weak or compromised credentials to gain unauthorised remote access to company resources, such as Remote Desktop Services.
Continuous penetration testing is an essential component of maintaining strong security posture for organisations. Find out more about it here.
Common ways hackers utilise vulnerabilities
At OneDot61, we've conducted various penetration tests uncovering security gaps frequently exploited by hackers. Here are some common findings:
- Use of leaked credentials
- Weaknesses in web applications or remote access services
- Shared admin credentials
- Poor network segmentation
- Weak authentication mechanism
- Unsupported or outdated software