Preventing password spray attacks

What is password spraying?

Password spraying (also known as a password spraying attack) is a type of password attack in which a threat actor attempts to access a plethora of user accounts using a list of frequently used passwords. The goal of a password spraying attack is to exploit the fact that many users reuse the same passwords across multiple accounts.

Why does password spraying mitigation matter?

Failing to address password spraying attacks can expose organizations to serious and far-reaching risks. When attackers successfully compromise accounts, they can trigger large-scale data breaches, leading to the theft of sensitive business information, intellectual property, and customer data. Such breaches often result in significant financial losses, not only from direct theft or fraud but also from costly incident response, legal fees, and potentially hefty regulatory fines for noncompliance with data protection laws like the GDPR.

The disturbing part is that the impact doesn’t stop at just finances. A successful attack can halt business processes and even enable attackers to escalate their privileges for further attacks, such as ransomware deployments. Additionally, the reputational damage can be lasting because customers and partners lose trust in the organization’s ability to protect their data, potentially leading to lost business and broken partnerships.

At the individual level, those affected may experience emotional distress and anxiety, especially if their personal or financial information is compromised. Ultimately, neglecting to mitigate password spraying attacks puts both organizational assets and stakeholder trust at risk, making mitigation a necessity.

Password spray attack mitigation

Prevention is always better than cure, especially in the realm of cybersecurity. Password spraying attacks are a growing threat, but a few smart defenses today can save you from major headaches tomorrow. Here’s how you can protect your organization:

• Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA): Implement adaptive or risk-based MFA, which requires additional verification for all login attempts.
• Implement strong password policies: Enforce the use of complex passwords that include a combination of letters, numbers, and special characters. Ensure these passwords are updated regularly.
• Implement account lockout policies: Enforce temporary account lockouts after multiple failed login attempts to prevent attackers from continuously trying different passwords.
• Consider passwordless options: Explore passwordless authentication methods like biometrics or passkeys for even stronger protection.
• Leverage conditional access policies: Use these policies to control resource access based on factors like the user's identity, device type, location, and time of access. An access management tool can dynamically assess these conditions to deny or grant access only when specific criteria are satisfied, helping block risky or anomalous login attempts and reduce the overall attack surface.
• Monitor login activity: Track and analyze login attempts to identify unusual patterns, such as multiple failed attempts from a single IP address or geographic region.
• Set up continuous monitoring and automated alerts: Use SIEM or anomaly detection tools to flag unusual login patterns, such as failed logins across many accounts or logins from unexpected locations.
• Prioritize user education and awareness: Regularly educate users on the dangers of password reuse and phishing and on the importance of reporting suspicious activity. User awareness is a critical layer of defense because attackers often exploit human error.
• Regularly perform security assessments: Conduct periodic vulnerability scans and penetration tests to identify and fix weaknesses before attackers can exploit them.

Defend against password spraying with ADSelfService Plus

ADSelfService Plus is an identity security solution that provides adaptive MFA with support for a wide range of authenticators. It provides MFA for endpoints, cloud and on-premises applications, VPNs, and Outlook on the web. ADSelfService Plus also provides passwordless authentication options to bypass the need for users to enter passwords directly. The Password Policy Enforcer allows you to set stringent password rules, mitigating risks from weak or compromised passwords and protecting against various types of password attacks.

In addition to these features, ADSelfService Plus also provides self-service password management and enterprise SSO. These capabilities work together to help organizations effectively mitigate password spraying attacks by strengthening authentication, enforcing robust password policies, and reducing the attack surface for credential-based threats.

FAQ