Password Spraying is an attack in which an attacker uses a set of commonly used passwords to access a large number of accounts. The attack is perpetrated in such a way that the attacker evades account lockouts on the attempted user accounts.

In society, traditional cyber criminals try to attack an account by tracking the access point of what they want to hack and try multiple possible passwords to hack into people’s accounts.
The possible passwords can be predicted as follows:

• Trying common names. For example, fluffy, joey, etc
• Tracking down the same passwords on different websites and credentials.
• Guessing the password through social media or in-person insights.

Nowadays, hackers use new techniques such as Password-spraying. We’ll know more about it in the article.

What is Password Spraying?

Password spraying is a cyberattack technique used when a hacker tries to access several target accounts with a single password. This kind of attack uses brute force. Because passwords are usually easy to guess and can be easily implemented, password spraying is a successful method.

Password failure is responsible for the vast majority of data breaches today. With the continued digitization of modern society, and increased work-from-home opportunities, cybercriminals have boundless opportunities to exploit single points of failure caused by improper and insecure password use.

How Does a Password-Spraying Attack Happen?

A compromised username from a prior breach or data leak may be purchased by the cyberattacker, or they may compile a list using standard default username formats. An attacker might, for instance, extract usernames from a list of workers from a corporate directory or LinkedIn page. For instance, the attacker might potentially look up the usernames of particular employees and target them.

The cyberattacker applies one password to each username after obtaining their lists of usernames and passwords, then repeats the procedure with the next password. An attacker can evade the account lockout policies that result from making too many login attempts by attempting one password at a time.

Signs of Getting Password-Spraying

(i) Numerous failed attempts to log in.

(ii) Increase of inappropriate activity from the user account.

(iii) Many activities from unknown users or accounts.

Ways of password spraying

Who Uses Password-Spraying?

Password-spraying attacks are simple to conduct, and any hacker, regardless of skill level, can take advantage of them. The investigating agency must determine whether any additional mechanisms such as a middle-man attack, inserting of some virus, or spoofing through fabricated senders or people were included as part of the overall attack. These attacks are commonly done by cybercrime syndicates, which are criminal organizations performing cybercrimes.

Some of the most prevalent cybercrime syndicates that utilize password-spray attacks include Iranian-sponsored Peach Sandstorm, aka Holmium and APT33, and Russian-sponsored Midnight Blizzard, aka Nobelium.

How is Password-Spraying Different From Other Cyber Attacks Forces?

Conventional cyber assaults focus on a single account that has several password options. Password spraying uses one password to target several accounts at once. This method prevents the potential attacker from arousing suspicions and being blocked for attempting too many times in a short amount of time (usually three to five times).

Some common tactics are as follows:

1. Social spoofing and phishing: Hackers utilize one-on-one conversations and phishing emails to identify profitable targets before selecting a genuine target, which is typically an enterprise company or agency.
2. Trying popular keywords: Trying like “password” or various birthdates can help gain access to accounts where users haven’t made secure password choices.
3. Information gathering: The hacker will try to access a user directory and broaden the attack list when they have gained access to the system.

Who Do Password-Spraying Attackers Target?

In general, campaigns focus on cloud-based applications or services that use federated authentication protocols and SSO. Attacking SSO, in the case of successful implementation, will provide more extensive access to intellectual property for use while attacking federated authentication will help mask bad traffic. Email clients are also commonly targeted.

How Does Password-Spraying Affect the Targets in Daily Life?

A major consequence of a password-spraying attack on your company is a decline in client confidence. Customers will be less inclined to trust you with their data and information if you are the victim of any kind of brute-force attack. They might relocate their company, which would result in more losses.

The ability for the attacker to use your login information in a phishing attempt is another possible problem with successful password spray attacks. An email sent by an attacker to a customer could hurt your business and the other party’s finances, further damaging your reputation.

Why Password Spraying Is Considered a Brute Force Attack?

Password Spraying is considered a brute force attack because hackers use a trial-and-error approach to guess passwords. They tried the password in various accounts to get the correct match of the password. If the password match is found, hackers can easily steal the information from your account. For example- In the company, hackers focused on the employee’s account to steal sensitive information, if they did not guess the password in one employee’s account in that cases they tried other employees’ accounts to crack the password and steal sensitive information.

How Password Spraying Affects Business?

In the business scenario, password spraying also plays a major role. Hackers focused on customer accounts and even employee accounts to steal sensitive information and cause businesses to face financial losses. Hackers steal the username and password of the customer account. If the password spraying attack is successful the business faces some losses. After successfully getting the customer username and password, hackers also use phishing attacks to send the malicious email from the customer accounts..

How to Prevent Password-Spraying?

After learning what password spraying is, we may move on to the most important subject: preventing victimization.

Here are some suggestions to protect your business from password spray and password list attacks

1. Make sure multi-factor authentication is enabled (MFA)

Setting up multi-factor authentication for all employees in a company is one of the finest defenses against hacking attempts of any type. In this manner, users will be prevented from password-spraying by requiring two or more verification factors to log in or access accounts and applications.

2. Make using secure passwords mandatory

Having a strong password is the best defense against hacking. Provide staff training on data loss and hacking dangers, and mandate the use of strong passwords that go beyond simple numerical sequences and first names.

3. Examine programs for managing passports

Review software and applications for managing passports in enterprises regularly. Invest in password management software to handle user accounts more efficiently and to provide an additional security measure.

4. Raise knowledge of security in the workplace

Your staff should receive security awareness training to keep them informed about current dangers and the value of defending against malicious assaults. Use and promote best practices to teach employees how to protect their data and the firm data.

5. Establish protocols for user lockouts and password resets

Requests for password resets and user lockouts are frequent and widespread events in businesses. Make sure your service desk is equipped with comprehensive protocols to manage lockouts and password resets efficiently.

Preventive Measures For Password Spraying Attack?

Password spraying assaults, as we previously discussed, cannot be halted, but they can be identified and stopped before more harm is done. Here are some steps you may take to detect and prevent password spraying if you think your company has been the target of an attack:

1. Change the passwords for administrative and privileged domain accounts right away if MFA (Multi-factor authentication ) isn’t present.

2. Set up your security logging platform to detect unsuccessful login attempts on all of the office’s systems and to react quickly to any suspicious activity.

3. Use deception or endpoint detection and response (EDR) technologies to observe malicious activities and prevent hackers from migrating laterally.

4. As an additional precaution, review incident response plans and the relevant alert members.

5. Employ a security company that specializes in digital forensics and incident response to find compromised accounts, look into possible data loss, and provide extra assistance.

Some Examples of Password Spraying

While specific victims of password spraying attacks may not always be publicly disclosed due to confidentiality concerns, several high-profile incidents have been reported in recent years. Here are a few examples:

1. City of London: In 2019, the City of London Corporation, responsible for governing the financial district, experienced a password spraying attack targeting its email systems. The attack aimed to gain unauthorized access to email accounts and sensitive information.

2. Microsoft Office 365 Users: Numerous organizations and individuals using Microsoft Office 365 have fallen victim to password spraying attacks. These attacks often target email accounts, cloud storage, and other Office 365 services to steal sensitive information or launch further attacks.

3. Healthcare Organizations: Multiple healthcare organizations, including hospitals, clinics, and medical research institutions, have been targeted by password-spraying attacks. These attacks aim to compromise patient records, medical data, and other sensitive information stored within healthcare systems.

4. Financial Services Firms: Banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions have been victims of password-spraying attacks, with attackers attempting to gain unauthorized access to customer accounts, financial data, and sensitive internal systems.

5. Educational Institutions: Schools, colleges, and universities have faced password spraying attacks targeting student and faculty accounts, educational resources, and administrative systems. These attacks can disrupt online learning platforms, compromise research data, and expose sensitive information.

Conclusion

Technology must progress, and we must too. Regarding identity management, there is no longer any advantage to using the old techniques. Changing to a passwordless system could be the solution your business needs to defend against a variety of other dangerous cyberattacks in addition to password spraying.

Frequently Asked Questions on Password Spraying- FAQs

Which systems are the targets of password spraying?

Attacks using password spraying usually target networks and email services that provide remote access.

What is a password spraying attack based on IMAP?

An IMAP-based password spraying attack uses the IMAP protocol to target email accounts.

How can I identify assaults that use password spraying?

By keeping an eye out for patterns of unsuccessful login attempts from a single IP address, one can identify password-spraying assaults.