What Are The Actions You Must Do To Protect Your Online Identity Against Account TakeOverAttacks

Digital Shadows says that more than 24 billion different sets of exposed credentials are for sale online. This is a 66% increase over 2020, owing to advances in malware, social engineering, and improved credential sharing.

Account takeovers are unavoidable, with passwords like '123456' still accounting for more than one hundred million exposed occurrences. But there are ways to stop them, which we will talk about later in the essay. First, assess if account takeover (ATO) is really a concern for everyone.

How Is Account Takeover Performed？

The ATO assaults resemble burglaries in certain ways. Fraudsters or hackers may either break your password using specific software (like thieves do to access a building's doors) or steal it from you through social engineering and specialized malware.

Then they change your password, making it hard for you to get into your account. Unlike with robbers, you may lose all of your sensitive information and money all at once. After internet fraudsters have taken all they can from your accounts, they may sell it as part of a database of similar accounts on the dark web.

Types of Account Takeover Attacks Most Common

Account takeover attempts to steal your credentials may be classified into numerous types:

• Social engineering. Most of the time, phishing emails are sent from a business or firm you should trust, such as your bank, a broker, or a payment system. This email is an effort to steal your personal information, such as logins and passwords. Social engineers may also phone you (a practice known as “vishing”) and pose as bank personnel or customer service representatives from some of the services you use. Next, they will try to trick you into giving them your login information or other important information.

• Malware. It is simple to unintentionally download viruses. It may seem to be simply another communication from a customer with an attached file, or it may appear to be a file of a book you really wanted to read. If you open it, though, there's practically no turning back—the malware may encrypt all of your information and shut down your machine. You usually have to pay a large ransom to have the data encrypted and the system unlocked.

• Automated attacks. This form of ATO attack comprises brute-forcing passwords, credential stuffing (using credentials acquired from one service to connect to another), and password spraying (using a few popular passwords to get into several accounts).

• Cyber attacks. Attacks against the internet Hackers could use flaws in software and websites to get into user databases and steal information like logins and passwords. The databases are then either sold on the dark web or used.

Five Tips for Preventing Account Takeover

Security experts have come up with a number of important rules that every person who uses the internet must follow to protect their accounts from cyber attacks:

• Use complex passwords at all times. A lot of strong passwords Permit different passwords for each account. Make passwords of more than 10 characters, including capital and lowercase letters, digits, and special characters, for critical accounts. To keep your credentials safe, use password managers like KeePass.

• MFA or 2FA may be used to validate your identity using an email, a smartphone, a PIN, your fingerprints, or your face. MFA may be supplemented with an authenticator app. It generates a random six-digit code every 30 seconds that you must enter when you try to log into your account.

• Do not use your work email for personal purposes. Use as many personal email accounts as possible.

• Don't keep your credit card information on file with any online retailer. When making an online purchase, make certain that the site you are using is trustworthy and safe.

• When logging into essential accounts, never use public Wi-Fi or any other public network.

• Do not click on questionable links or download files from unknown emails.

What Should You Do If You Believe Someone Is Attempting to Take Over Your Account？

Don't worry. If you get a message that someone is trying to get into your account, check your account's login history and the devices that can access it if that information is available. If you see anything suspicious, or if you know for certain that you did not access the account, reset your password right away. Check your information carefully to see if it has been changed or taken away, and then try to get it back.

What Should You Do If Fraudsters Steal Your Account？

Attempt to re-access your accounts. If you're fortunate, and the fraudsters haven't changed your password or deleted your recovery phone number, you can log in and rese your password yourself. Remember to hurry!

If you are unable to access your account, contact the support staff of the service or website where you have an account. Request that your account be disabled. Prepare to produce your identification credentials and evidence that you once held the account.

If thieves get access to your main email account, make sure they cannot access any other platforms or services that are connected to it, particularly those that use your bank card as a payment mechanism. Call your bank and request that all of the cards you use for online payments be blocked. Remove the hacked email from any accounts to that you still have access. Most of them are readily accessed by criminals who have access to your email.

If your work email has been hacked, tell your boss right away and ask the IT staff to block your email account from accessing important business information.

Anyone may experience an account takeover at some point in their digital life.

If you follow these rules, you are less likely to be a victim of the ATO and lose all of your important accounts at once.

About WikiFX

WikiFX is a search engine for forex trading, a web and a mobile application that gives traders full information about brokers. Over 39,000 brokers, both regualated and unregulated, are listed in the app. Because of the platform's large number of brokers, traders or users may simply look for their chosen broker. It also has a tool that allows traders to freely expose their bad experiences with their brokers.

On the other hand, WikiFX has been collaborating with 30 financial authorities from across the globe to address all trading issues.

Stay tuned for more Forex news.

Download the WikiFX App from the App Store or Google Play Store to stay updated on the latest news.