Disclaimer: This blog post is written from the perspective of a cyber attacker for educational purposes only. It aims to raise awareness about the importance of good identity hygiene and does not endorse or promote illegal activities.
As a cyberattacker, the easiest path into your systems usually means exploiting the weakest link in your security chain – humans. One of my favorite hunting grounds is poor identity hygiene along with social engineering. Let me explain why.
What is Identity Hygiene?
Identity hygiene refers to the practices that both organizations and users adopt to maintain and protect digital identities. The proliferation of identities and accounts across on-premises and cloud applications and infrastructure expands the attack surface of my target so I have more pathways to breach any organization. Things like password management, multi-factor authentication, regular updates of entitlements are roadblocks that slow me down but it’s only a matter of time until I find some way in. The lowest hanging fruit that I tend to uncover first are account credentials with passwords, certificates, or SSH keys — these avenues that allow me to access privileged locations or move laterally to other endpoints. And if I find accounts that are not governed with appropriate security controls, I’ll be able to move undetected until I’m ready to attack.
The Allure of Poor Identity Hygiene
Poor identity hygiene is like an open door to a treasure trove of information. Here’s why it’s so attractive:
- Reused Passwords: Many users reuse passwords across multiple accounts. Once I crack one password, I gain access to multiple accounts.
- Weak Passwords: Users often choose convenience over security, opting for simple, easy-to-remember (and easy-to-guess) passwords. A simple brute force attack can crack these passwords in no time.
- Lack of Multi-Factor Authentication: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) adds an extra layer of security, but it’s surprising how many users and privileged accounts don’t use it or use unencrypted text messages as the only factor outside of their passwords. Without MFA, I only need to crack the password to gain access.
How I Exploit Poor Identity Hygiene
Here are some of my favorite techniques:
- Phishing Attacks: I send emails or messages that seem to come from trusted sources, tricking users into revealing their credentials by telling them they must reset their password, or something similar. It’s astonishing how often this works.
- Credential Stuffing: I use automated tools to apply stolen credential pairs (username and password) to numerous websites. With password reuse so common, I often gain access to several accounts.
- Brute Force Attacks: I use software to generate and try all possible passwords until the correct one is found. Weak passwords fall quickly to this method.
I’m Not as Sophisticated as You Think
Poor identity hygiene is a gold mine for cyber attackers like me. However, with proper awareness and practices, organizations can significantly reduce their vulnerabilities. Your credentials are the keys to the kingdom so along with any hygiene initiative, make sure you’re also moving into the world of passwordless technologies. This won’t happen overnight so prioritize the largest risks: start with your privileged accounts, review entitlements and permissions, and allow standard users to log in with FIDO credentials like passkeys.
