What is a corporate account takeover (CATO)

A corporate account takeover (CATO) is a type of cybercrime where attackers gain unauthorized access to a legitimate business account. Unlike a regular account takeover (ATO) that targets individual accounts, CATO focuses on compromising accounts that belong to an organization.

The ramifications of a successful CATO attack can be severe for businesses. Attackers can steal sensitive data, disrupt operations (e.g. denial of service), install ransomware and initiate fraudulent financial transactions.

The fallout doesn't stop there. Legal repercussions like fines and lawsuits can add insult to injury. Moreover, recovery efforts, including forensic investigations and revamped security measures, can be a costly burden.

What is a corporate account?

A corporate account refers to any online account that’s associated with a business. For example:

• Financial accounts (bank accounts, payment processing gateways exploited for fraud)
• Cloud storage accounts (that may contain sensitive data like passwords or credentials)
• Email accounts (used for communication and potentially containing confidential information)
• Social media accounts (used for marketing and customer interaction)
• CRM systems (containing customer data)
• Internal business applications (granting access to multiple company resources)

Traditionally, CATO attacks focused on accounts offering immediate financial gain, such as bank accounts. This focus has now widened, as cybercriminals have created ways to profit from most types of corporate user accounts. For example, access to cloud accounts can lead to profitable crypto mining, while travel accounts, loyalty/reward accounts, or even cellphone accounts, can be exploited for quick returns. Even simple user accounts are useful in executing more complex fraud schemes by impersonating employees.

The type of account targeted by attackers depends on the attacker's goals and the vulnerabilities present within the organization’s network.

Here’s a closer look at some common tactics that hackers use to take over corporate accounts:

1. Phishing
   
   Phishing emails are deceptive emails designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information like login credentials. These emails often contain a sense of urgency and use familiar logos or branding to appear legitimate. They include malicious links that lead to fake login pages where the entered credentials are captured.
   
   
2. Social engineering
   
   Social engineering attacks manipulate employees into disclosing confidential information. An attacker may pose as IT support, an executive or another trusted individual to trick an employee into sharing their login credentials or other personal information. This can be carried out through phone calls, emails or in-person interactions.
   
   
3. Malware
   
   Malware attacks use malicious software to infect a company's systems. This software can be delivered via email attachments, malicious downloads or compromised websites. Once installed, the malware can capture keystrokes, steal login credentials or give attackers remote privileged access to the compromised systems.
   
   
4. Credential stuffing
   
   Credential stuffing is when malicious actors use stolen username and password combinations from previous data breaches to gain access to a company's accounts. They leverage automated tools to try these credentials on several target systems until a match is found. This method works because people often reuse passwords across multiple accounts.
   
   
5. Password spraying
   
   Password spraying is a technique where hackers try a small number of commonly used passwords against a large number of accounts. Instead of using a list of stolen credentials, attackers test popular passwords (e.g., "password123" or "admin") across many different accounts until they find a match. This method is especially dangerous because it avoids triggering account lockouts that occur after repeated failed login attempts.
   
   
6. Man-in-the-middle attacks
   
   These attacks intercept and alter communication between two parties without their knowledge. Hackers use this method to capture login credentials and other sensitive data transmitted over unsecured networks, like public Wi-Fi.

CATO attacks pose a significant threat, but there are steps that your organization can take to reduce the risk of being compromised. For example:

1. Employee training and awareness
   Regularly educate employees on how to identify phishing attempts and social engineering attacks. Train them to be vigilant about emails with suspicious attachments, phone calls or unexpected requests for access. Moreover, nurture a company culture of security where employees feel motivated to report suspicious activity.
   
2. Comprehensive security policies
   Formulate and implement a comprehensive security policy, covering password management, cloud security, network security, identity and access management (IAM), intrusion detection, incident response, data encryption, botnet and spyware protection, and continuous monitoring.
   
3. Threat detection
   Use modern threat detection systems to detect and respond to potential threats before they result in account takeovers. ITDR and other systems use advanced analytics and machine learning to monitor network traffic and events, identify anomalies and flag suspicious activities in real time.
   
4. Privileged access management (PAM)
   A dedicated privileged access management (PAM) tool can limit the risk of account takeovers. These tools manage and monitor privileged accounts to ensure that only authorized personnel have access to sensitive systems and data.
   
5. Third-party risk management
   Supply chain vulnerabilities can also lead to corporate account takeovers. Enforce third-party risk management practices to ensure that vendors and partners are not a weak link in your security posture. This involves conducting thorough due diligence, regular security assessments and ongoing monitoring of all third parties.

Here’s how you can go about performing a CATO risk assessment for your business:

Step 1 – Identify sensitive accounts
Identify all critical accounts that, if compromised, could cause significant damage to your business. These include financial accounts, executive email accounts and accounts with access to sensitive data or systems. Don’t forget to include specialized tools used by smaller teams (like Employee Experience Platforms used by HR, sales tools, developer tools, etc.)

Step 2 – Evaluate current security measures
Examine the security measures in place for each sensitive account, including password policies, authentication procedures and access controls.

Step 3 – Assess vulnerabilities
Identify vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers, such as outdated software, weak password policies, lack of multi-factor authentication or insufficient employee training.

Step 4 – Determine risk level
Determine the risk level associated with each sensitive account, based on the likelihood and potential impact of a CATO attack.

Step 5 – Develop and implement mitigation strategies
Based on the identified vulnerabilities, implement appropriate mitigation strategies. For example, you may update software, expand SSO, enforce stronger password policies, enable multi-factor authentication or conduct employee training programs.

Step 6 – Monitor
Post-implementation, continuously monitor the risk landscape to ensure the effectiveness of your risk management program.