What is broken authentication attack? And what are the prevention mechanisms against broken authentication attack?
Broken authentication cyberattacks aim to take over one or more user accounts, giving the attacker the same privilege as the victim. And it is typically caused by poorly implemented authentication and session management systems. Moreover, broken authentication attack occurs when cybercriminals are able to compromise passwords, passphrases, keys, session tokens, user account information and other details to assume user identities. Due to poor design and implementation of identity management and access control systems, the broken authentication is common cyberattack. Furthermore, it is an application security risk that may enable malicious threat agents to compromise keys, session tokens, and passwords that can potentially lead for further exploitation or even control of identities of users.
Common broken authentication attacks include sessioin hijacking, password spraying, credential stuffing, social engineering or phishing and so on cyberattacks.
Common techniques to protect against broken authentication attacks include the following:
- Poor session management
- Employ multifactor authentication
- Never store credentials in plaintext
- Avoid using default credentials
- Set account lockout methods
- Employ HTTPS protocol for all web applications
- Use strong credentials
- Proper session management
- Avoid predictable user credentials
- More