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Security company, Outpost24, has introduced a free Credential Checker that analyzes the domains of a company’s email addresses for any credentials that may have been exposed on the dark web.
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The tool accesses billions of compromised credential records across many different sources and provides a fast report regarding any potential exposure.
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According to experts, organizations can minimize the likelihood of significant cyberattacks and increase their overall cyber resilience if they discover any compromise earlier.
A reputable cybersecurity firm, Outpost24, has released a new tool, Outpost24 Credential Checker, to allow businesses to find out if their credentials are compromised or are being sold on the dark web. By simply uploading their email domains, businesses can quickly discover if they are the victims of credential breaches.
Stolen credentials continue to be the most popular method criminals use to hack into a business. By providing an easy way for businesses to check for compromised credentials at no charge, Outpost24 hopes to provide them access to threat intelligence and help them stop hackers before they can do significant damage.
A simple tool to detect leaked credentials
The new Credential Checker works in a very straightforward way. A company only needs to enter an email address linked to its corporate domain. After providing the email address, Outpost24’s extensive database of compromised credentials will quickly identify whether the company’s email domain is among the millions of data breaches that Outpost24 has collected from its sources, data breaches, and the underground economy.
A few minutes later, the tool will generate a report to tell you whether your domain appears in any known leaks. The report does not provide actual passwords or sensitive data. Instead, it provides a summary that includes the number of stolen credentials linked to the domain, the websites connected to those credentials, and the most common reason for the data theft.
Further, Outpost24 explained that the threat intelligence from its Digital Risk Protection platform, CompassDRP, powers the Credential Checker. CompassDRP monitors for threats across all three layers of the internet, the regular/visible internet, the Deep Web, and the Dark Web, to enable businesses to have visibility into their exposure to risks arising from exposed data or compromised accounts.
This tool intends to provide businesses with early notification so that they can take prophylactic actions, such as forcing users to reset passwords or changing security policies, immediately upon learning that their credentials are actively circulating on the internet.
For those organizations that do not have extensive cybersecurity budgets, early awareness of compromised accounts may provide them with the opportunity to respond proactively.
Rising cyber risks drive demand for visibility
In recent years, stolen identities have continued to be one of the leading problems that organizations face. Rather than just stealing from individuals, cybercriminals are stealing millions of usernames and passwords by trading them on underground black markets and forums.
In addition, many of these criminals are now able to use automated software to verify these stolen credentials against hundreds of legitimate services in a matter of seconds. As a result, it’s taking virtually no effort on the part of the criminals to exploit today’s cyber threat landscape to gain unauthorized access to many companies’ systems.
Once the criminal has gained access to a company’s network, they are able to leverage that identity to steal data from that company, deploy ransomware onto that company’s network, or navigate further into that company’s environment by using the credentials of a legitimate user. Detecting exposed credentials early can help companies stop an attack before it turns into a major breach.
Outpost24’s Vice President of development, Alex Knol, said they designed the new tool to make monitoring easier for everyone. The company wants to “democratize threat intelligence and help everyone to be more secure,” giving organizations a glimpse into the type of data criminals may already have about them.
In today’s cyber threat environment, many experts agree that monitoring the dark web for stolen identities is now a critical aspect of modern cybersecurity best practices.
Helping organizations build cyber resilience
Experts in cybersecurity are starting to see that tools such as the Credential Checker can help an organization become more cyber resilient because when organizations understand the level of vulnerability associated with their environment, they have a better chance of responding quickly to reduce the potential severity of an event.
Credential checkers are intended to be a starting point rather than a full examination of a company’s vulnerabilities. They also provide knowledge and possible areas of concern. For businesses that require further interpretation, they may utilize additional monitoring or conduct an internal security assessment.
Outpost24 is a Sweden-based regional provider of vulnerability management solutions and offers security products that allow organizations to discover vulnerabilities and monitor threats across their digital infrastructure.
As cybercrimes continue to increase and evolve, experts agree that proactive tools (such as the Credential Checker) to identify pre-existing risks will become more important to organizations of all sizes to successfully avoid a hit from a cyberattack and protect their integrated data prior to any cybercrime incident.
For companies worried about leaked credentials, the new tool offers a quick and accessible way to check whether their information may already be circulating in the darker corners of the internet.
The ESA breach serves as a cautionary tale: by the time you learn your data is on the dark web, the damage may already be done, which is why proactive monitoring is no longer optional.
