{"id":997095,"date":"2020-08-12T11:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T03:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geetests.com\/article\/prevent-account-takeover-from-damagin-your-business"},"modified":"2025-09-15T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T06:19:10","slug":"prevent-account-takeover-from-damagin-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/en\/article\/prevent-account-takeover-from-damagin-your-business","title":{"rendered":"Account Takeover Explained: How to Prevent ATO and Secure Your Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
Login pages are the most abused gateways on any business website. Account takeover attacks or ATO makes 35% of the bot attacks on critical gateways, and they are getting increasingly frequent and sophisticated.<\/span><\/p>\n

ATO is at the heart of financial fraud, causing massive losses to end-users who lose funds and hurts online businesses, affecting customer lifetime value, future revenues, and business growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how to protect your business from account takeover? Let’s find out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What Is Account Takeover <\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Account takeover (ATO) is a type of bot attack aimed at online identity theft. To be precise, the bot operators’ main goal is to steal an online account (e-mail, social media, game, e-commerce, etc.) that can be monetized in various forms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most commonly, after bots get access to the account, they consequently get access to payment services and credit cards connected to these accounts and can conduct purchases on behalf of the victim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Purpose of ATO<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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The main purpose of account takeover fraud is the same as any other bot attack – money. By gaining unauthorized access to user accounts, fraudsters can conduct various forms of illegal schemes and monetize the data.<\/span><\/p>\n

How ATO Damages Your Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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1. Frequent ATO cases endanger your reputation and customer trust;<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Chargebacks from unauthorized purchases and customer support costs take a heavy toll on your budget;<\/span><\/p>\n

3. High risk to the long terms success of the online business, impact on revenues and business growth;<\/span><\/p>\n

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Account Takeover Scenarios<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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For successful obtaining user account bot operators use the following methods:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. <\/span>Credential Cracking<\/a> – by using means like brute force, wordlist (or dictionary method), guessing attacks bots find out the login credentials of the victim – legitimate user;<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Phishing – Using <\/span>social engineering<\/a> for obtaining credentials through e-mail, social media, or messengers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Data breaches – hackers gain access to databases of popular websites or APPs to gain a huge list of credentials;<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a04. Credential stuffing – bots utilize acquired credentials on various websites to check their usability and access accounts;<\/span><\/p>\n

Account Takeover Examples<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Account takeover attacks come in various forms; here are some of the most popular types of ATO attacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Corporate Account Takeover<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A corporate account takeover is a form of identity theft when fraudsters obtain credentials to access classified information and assets within the company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A company bank account or other important assets are the main goals in this attack. This type of account takeover is highly dangerous for businesses since their financial assets could be stolen.<\/span><\/p>\n

E-mail Account Takeover<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

E-mail account takeover refers to stealing e-mail credentials; as a consequence, fraudsters can get access to every other website you have registered using your e-mail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can check if your e-mail has been stolen <\/span>here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Game Account Takeover<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

Game account takeovers are widespread attacks in the gaming industry. Hackers steal game accounts to access game assets inside the account, such as game currencies or loyalty points and payment options connected to it (payment platforms, credit cards, etc.).<\/span><\/p>\n

E-commerce Platforms Account Takeover<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

E-commerce account takeovers lead to unauthorized purchases using these accounts and, accordingly, the payment methods connected to the accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Streaming Platforms Account Takeover<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, and others have become increasingly popular, especially in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/span><\/p>\n

Consequently, account takeover attacks targeting streaming platforms have increased dynamically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Social Network Account Takeover<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Social network accounts hacking, followed by fraud, are not news. These types of attacks are as old as social networks are and cause reputation loss and a lot of discontent among users.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraudsters use the accounts for spamming, money scams, and other activities depending on their goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Avoid Account Takeover<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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To avoid account takeover attacks on your business, you need to set the following precautions:<\/span><\/p>\n

1.Set up a 2-factor or multi-factor authentication: e-mail code, SMS code, or a confirmation link;<\/span><\/p>\n

2.Set up an advanced CAPTCHA on login and other sensitive gateways to detect bots;<\/span><\/p>\n

3.Limit user actions inside an account until the user logs in from a trusted device;<\/span><\/p>\n

How to Detect Account Takeover<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Discovering account takeover attacks is an extremely complicated and sophisticated process. It is almost impossible to achieve due to human-powered sweatshops aimed at achieving specific tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0Distributed bot attacks with only a few requests from each IP make it extremely hard to detect or block as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from that, even if an account is stolen, users may not notice it at once since bot operators might lie dormant until they spot an opportunity for a big profit using the account.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are the main signs of account takeover:<\/span><\/p>\n