How to Prevent Credential Stuffing Attacks?

Our guide will teach you how to prevent credential stuffing attacks. It will also prepare you for future threats and help you improve your defenses across multiple apps and services.

When was the last time you lost your ATM card or PIN? Now imagine what would happen if a threat actor found your details and used them to cash out at the supermarket. The basis of a credential stuffing attack is similar. A hacker gets a hold of your credentials and uses them to breach systems. IN brute force attacks, hackers try to guess or crack your password. But credential stuffing is different, and it’s where they steal your credentials, and there is no need for guesswork. They, without a doubt, will know your login credentials and try to use them across various websites and services.

Did you know that over 24 billion username and password pairs are being circulated across cybercrime hubs?

To learn how to prevent credential stuffing attacks, continue reading our guide. We’ll help.

What are Credential Stuffing Attacks?

Credential stuffing is a novel method in which an attacker acquires your credentials and uses them to bypass authorization. They may use bots to automate these attacks and launch them to scale. Credential stuffing reuses your usernames and passwords across several accounts. It may attempt several logins and circumvent multiple security measures. A credential stuffing attack can also originate from different IP addresses, which may make it harder to trace.

How Does Credential Stuffing Work?

In the simplest sense, credential stuffing happens when the attacker gets your credentials from one app, platform, or service. They then try to use those details to hijack and take over other services. Imagine if they got a hold of your Google account’s login and password. In a credential stuffing attack, they will try to use your Google login to access YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and other services.

Frankly, it gets tiring to log into multiple services manually. This is where the attacker sets up bots and stuffs in your details to do their job. These bots can log into various accounts in parallel, fake IP addresses, and even tell them whether your stolen credentials work on some sites. If you’re not careful, it can also collect personally identifiable information, credit card data, and other sensitive information.

Credential-stuffing bots can store information for later use, which means your data can be saved and compromised. They shouldn’t be underestimated because the scope and duration of the damage are unknown.

A hacker can purchase your details illegally from the dark web and use that info to launch these threats. They could also use automated tools to evade security systems, change your account settings, and lock other users out of networks and their accounts. A credential stuffing attack will inform the hacker about different entry points into your infrastructure. If they are skilled, they will go undetected and lie dormant. It could take a company months to figure out what’s happening in the background, until it’s too late.

How to Detect Credential Stuffing Attacks?

The simplest way to detect credential stuffing attacks is to employ AI threat detection and scanning technologies. You will need to implement an infrastructure access platform with access management controls. Your IT team must gain broad visibility into all user credentials, accounts, and activities throughout applications, databases, servers, and networks.

Check user authorizations in your enterprise and implement the least privilege access model. You want to build a zero-trust network security architecture that doesn’t allow anyone to gain entry just like that. Never trust, but always verify. Follow that mantra.

There are other ways you can identify and detect credential stuffing attacks, and they are as follows:

• IAM, or Identity and Access Management solutions powered by AI, can help security professionals detect unusual digital identities lurking around networks and learn more about unusual access attempts.
• Automated login attempt detection systems can also trigger instant alerts and real-time notifications. You will receive emails and reminders about any credential-stuffing bots that attempt infiltration.

Best Practices to Prevent Credential Stuffing Attacks

To ensure credential stuffing attacks prevention, you must adopt the mindset of your threat adversary. Aim to regularly review and update your security protocols, policies, and technologies and stay informed about the latest cybersecurity trends.

Create an incident response plan that outlines the steps to take during a data breach. Your plan should include procedures for isolating and containing threats, including remediating them. You will also need to figure out how to notify affected users and relevant authorities. Your employees are the frontline of your defenses, so educating them about these attacks is essential.

They should have a solid understanding, awareness, and learn the latest practices to avoid falling victim to credential stuffing. Make it a point to implement robust password protection policies and encourage your team to use the strongest and unique passwords for every account. Don’t use the same username and password pairs across multiple services. Teaching employees to be aware of social engineering practices is also essential. They should recognize impersonation attempts and not divulge their details to outsiders. It is a good practice to enforce work policies where they cannot share corporate data or upload files over public unprotected networks.

Use advanced authentication methods like multi-factor authentication. Add layered security and combine multi-factor authentication with other techniques like device fingerprinting and biometrics.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies can help you detect these attacks by analyzing large data sets and traffic flows. They can also monitor user behaviors and flag or detect real-time protection anomalies.

You should set up your AI to automatically block IP addresses and temporarily log out accounts if it detects suspicious activities. In addition, you also want to use CAPTCHA and other bot detection mechanisms that will require your users to prove that they are human. They will act as a gateway or barrier towards preventing credential stuffing.

Other bot detection methods that can provide additional defenses are rate limiting and IP blocking.

You want to take a proactive, collaborative, and iterative approach to protecting your digital assets and maintaining your customers’ trust. Therefore, review your security policies, methods, and workflows often and stay current.

Real-World Credential Stuffing Attacks

Here are some real-world examples of credential stuffing attacks:

1. Paypal experienced a massive credential stuffing attack between December 6th and 8th, 2022. The hackers stole customers’ full names, social security numbers, tax IDs, and credit and debit card details. Although Paypal discovered the breach late, it immediately instigated the best security measures to close security gaps. It urged users to change passwords and enable two-factor authentication (2FA). However, their accounts were rendered vulnerable before they could do that since the hackers reused their credentials on unrelated services.
2. The 23andMe credential stuffing attack is one of the best examples of credential stuffing attacks in the real-world. It teaches us what happens when we don’t learn how to prevent credential stuffing attacks or pay attention.  Hackers targeted a US-based genetic testing company and had plenty of time to steal their data. They robbed their DNA info, genotypes, family trees, home addresses, and birth dates, affecting over 6.9 million users and their relatives. After they stole their credentials, they sold them off on the dark web. The company ended up facing several class action lawsuits by its clients.
3. Okta warned its customers that hackers targeted its new feature with credential stuffing attacks. On April 15, 2024, it identified a series of attacks targeting its endpoints. The company notified its users and provided remediation guidance. It suggested removing permitted cross-origin devices that were not in use and disabling cross-origin authentication. As safety measures, users enabled passwordless and phishing-resistant authentication to stay protected.

Conclusion

Credential stuffing attacks aren’t rare and can happen to anyone anytime. It’s essential to update your security policies systematically, rotate passwords often, and keep users vigilant. Opportunities grow the more you ignore the likelihood of these threats. Remember, hackers don’t care how big or small your organization is. They can perform threat reconnaissance for ages and suddenly strike when you least expect it. The FBI has warned that credential stuffing attacks are on a steep rise.

Your enterprise will handle larger traffic volumes as it scales up and expands its networks. Credential stuffing attacks target mainly e-commerce, NGOs, healthcare, and financial organizations, but are not limited to those businesses. During such events, your business will suffer from losing customer trust and the ability to function correctly.

FAQs

What is Credential Stuffing?

Credential stuffing occurs when attackers use stolen login credentials to access other accounts. They prefer using automated software to attempt these credentials on numerous sites efficiently. This is a risky attack because it is not a guess, as attackers have already obtained your login credentials.

How can I check if my credentials have been compromised?

To check if your password has been compromised, you can use search engines online that detect leaked data. They will tell you if your password or email address was found in data breaches. Alternatively, you can occasionally monitor your accounts for suspicious activity and change your passwords.

Can CAPTCHA help prevent credential stuffing attacks?

CAPTCHA may protect against credential stuffing attacks by requiring users to authenticate that they are not bots. This makes it harder for automated bots to attempt to log in using stolen credentials. However, CAPTCHA is not foolproof and must be used with other security practices, such as multi-factor authentication.

How often should I change my passwords to prevent credential stuffing?

Rotating your passwords can help prevent you from being a victim of credential stuffing. Rotating them every few months is a good idea, especially for high-risk accounts. Having multiple passwords for multiple accounts can minimize the damage if one is compromised.

Why is Credential Stuffing a Serious Threat?

Credential stuffing is a threat because it allows hackers to access multiple accounts with stolen credentials. This can lead to identity theft, loss of money, and compromised personal data. It is hard to detect and can happen to anyone, so it seriously threatens individuals and organizations.

How Businesses Can Mitigate Credential Stuffing Risks?

Robust security can mitigate the risk of credential stuffing. This entails multi-factor authentication, phishing-aware employees, and frequent security updates. Companies must also track suspicious login attempts and employ AI-driven threat detection tools to stay ahead of attacks.