Managing Compromised Credentials Exposure in a Few Clicks

Compromised Credentials take 292 days to contain contributing to $4.88 million average cost of data breach

A recent Forbes article from January 2025 talks about a billion passwords stolen by malware. These stolen credentials are transacted and exploited on multiple mediums (dark web, deep web, in-person etc.) and lead to account takeovers, data breaches, and financial fraud. The average cost of a data breach has now jumped to USD 4.88 million and one of the most significant and persistent threats contributing to the increased cost is now compromised credentials. Furthermore, per the IBM report, it takes 292 days, on average, to identify and contain breaches containing compromised credentials - the longest of any attack vector.

Suffice to say, stolen or leaked credentials have become one of the most common and effective ways to infiltrate organizations undetected. Traditional security tools often fail to detect compromised credentials in time, leaving organizations vulnerable to cybercriminal attacks that can wreak havoc and cause as much damage as those perpetrated by malicious insiders. Organizations need to take swift action to counter these threats before they escalate.

Security operations teams have become accustomed to the drill: An alert comes in. An employee’s credentials have been found on a breached site. You scramble to investigate. Is it legit? Are they active in your org? Is this an isolated case or part of a larger compromise? How many more employees are affected? Have they changed their passwords?

Consider the operational complexity, increase in TCO and alert fatigue when this increases exponentially in the new normal. This is evidenced by more than 61% of security teams struggling to monitor and act on leaked credentials, according to a 2023 ESG Global survey. While credentials might seem low priority and may not grant complete access, they can certainly provide a way in and are often the first breadcrumb in a much larger attack path.

Cyware Compromised Credential Management - A better way to identify, contain, action and manage

Cyware Compromised Credential Management (CCM), a new module in our robust product suite, is aimed at operationalizing the key aspects of compromised credentials. This involves detection and monitoring, identifying and validating, as well as actioning.  While other tools stop at reporting, this new solution empowers you to take corrective action instantly - not in weeks or months. Built for teams who need visibility, context, and actionability all in one place.

With just a few clicks, you can be off to the races. CCM provides:

• Scanning & Detection:  CCM continuously monitors public and dark web sources for mentions of your corporate domains and credentials.
• Contextualization & Validation:  CCM integrates with your IAM system to ensure the validity of the credentials to help you focus on real exposure and minimize alert fatigue and cost.
• Day 0 Operationalization with built-in actioning:  CCM provides out of the box and built-in actions for Day 0 operationalization. In addition, CCM provides the flexibility for you to create your own custom actions with 400+ integrations
• Threat Visualization:  CCM provides rich dashboards showing all the relevant data pertaining to compromised credential breaches including trends, open incidents, actions taken.

CCM complements your existing infrastructure and solution stack to help you scale without worrying about alerts. In addition, it allows you to obtain & visualize data that can empower you to update your credentials policies.

Key takeaways

• Compromised Credentials are the longest of any attack vector to identify and contain
• They are one of main factors for increase in data breach which is increasing in cost
• Operational complexity and TCO increases significantly with exponential growth in compromised credential alerts
• Early detection is critical but not enough
• Day 0 operationalization is key that allows early detection, identification & validation, and actioning.
• CCM provides a complete solution with detection, IAM integration and built-in actioning.

An exposed credential is a serious threat exposure and CCM can help you manage, mitigate and stop further escalation.

To learn how Cyware’s new compromised credential management solution, book a demo now.