Cybersecurity Glossary
Account Takeover
When an attacker gains full control of a legitimate account and uses it as the real owner would.
What Account Takeover means
Once inside, the attacker does not need malware. They read mail, set forwarding rules, change bank details on invoices and message colleagues from an address everybody trusts. Because every action is technically authorised, most monitoring stays quiet. The give away is usually a rule or a login location, not an alert.
Why Account Takeover matters for small businesses and nonprofits
For a small organisation the mailbox is the master key. Password resets for banking, cloud services and the domain all arrive there. Losing one mailbox can mean losing the ability to prove who you are to your own suppliers.
What to do about Account Takeover
- Turn on multi factor authentication for every account, with number matching rather than plain approval
- Check mailbox rules and forwarding regularly, because attackers set them and leave
- Revoke active sessions as well as changing the password when something looks wrong
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When an attacker gains full control of a legitimate account and uses it as the real owner would.