Why we contact individuals...
Introduction
Why we contact individuals...
Ricochet Dynamics are internet security specialists, focusing on proactively fighting online fraud.
We work with a number of well-known international businesses who pool information and resources in order to reduce the threat from cyber-criminals.
The type of attack where collected (harvested) credentials are used is called a credential stuffing attack. This is where cyber-criminals use stolen credentials to attempt to login to other sites.
Credential stuffing
is an effective means of fraud, as people tend to re-use the same email address/password combination on multiple sites; sometimes even for their actual email account.
Traditionally, companies have been reactive to this type of threat. Most organizations are very good at responding to an attack: they analyze how the attack works and put the necessary controls in place to ensure that the scenario won’t happen again.
But companies have rarely been proactive in addressing the underlying problem: the fact that stolen credentials are a potential gold mine for criminals. Few internet users are even aware that their credentials have been compromised, let alone are being actively used.
So whilst victims are not aware that they are victims, the cyber-criminals continue to evolve and find new ways around security controls.
Ricochet Dynamics is led by founder and CEO Glenn Harwood – a security expert of twenty years’ experience in this field.
We collate email accounts that have been used in attempted attacks on our partner network sites around the world. We then contact the individual owners to make them aware of the situation and to offer free guidance and advice. This way, the individual concerned can ensure their own internet security – and be reassured that future attacks that use their credentials will fail.