Account Takeover Protection

Defend Credentials.
Block Takeovers.

Identify compromised accounts early and stop account takeovers using behavioral intelligence across Microsoft 365 environments.

Account Takeover Protection

ATO Consequences

Account Takeovers can cripple your business in multiple ways, including:

  • Significant Financial Losses—Account Takeovers can lead to substantial financial damage, draining resources through unauthorized transactions and necessitate costly incident responses.
  • Data Breaches—ATOs can expose sensitive customer data and proprietary business information, risking costly legal action, reputational damage, and long-term data integrity issues.
  • Operational Impact—Abuse of trusted user accounts to access email, collaboration tools, and connected services, disrupting operations and enabling further compromise.

ATO Challenges

Detecting account takeover (ATO) attacks presents unique challenges. Here’s why ATOs are notoriously difficult to spot:

  • Phishing Sophistication—Attackers often steal legitimate credentials through phishing attacks. Identifying unauthorized use becomes difficult when those credentials appear valid.
  • Credential Stuffing—Attackers capitalize on the common practice of password reuse, using stolen login details to gain access across multiple accounts.
  • Security Blind Spots & Device Spoofing—With legitimate credentials, attackers create security blind spots that bypass initial checks and use device spoofing to mask unauthorized attempts, making detection significantly more complex.

ATO Detection

Our approach to detecting account takeovers combines deep user insights with continuous, proactive monitoring.

  • User Insight Profiling—We build a multi-dimensional footprint for each employee, establishing a baseline of normal behavior across account activity.
  • Anomalous Activity Detection—We leverage advanced analytics to identify unusual email activity, such as new mail forwarding rules, auto-delete configurations, and "impossible travel" patterns.
  • Behavioral Pattern Mapping—Our platform continuously monitors deviations in email activity, including content, format, and communication patterns, to detect subtle anomalies that may indicate potential account takeovers.

ATO Remediation

We don’t just detect anomalies. We provide the information and tools you need to act quickly and decisively.

  • Incident Alert—As soon as a potential ATO is detected, we’ll arm you with a comprehensive incident report and all the pertinent details to take swift action.
  • Rapid Response—Once you validate a suspected takeover, you can immediately contain the incident by forcing a log-out or disabling the affected user to cut off unauthorized access.
  • Empowered User Reporting—When employees flag suspicious emails, our platform re-analyzes them in context and applies automated actions, such as warning banners or global quarantining, based on your configurable settings.

WHY IRONSCALES?

The Industry’s Only Email Security Platform Unifying AI and Human Insights

Our API-based platform creates a baseline and social graph so our Adaptive AI can provide real-time reputation, content, and behavioral analysis to detect any malicious email threat.

Protect Better

Block account takeover and BEC attacks (and never-seen-before threats) with our Adaptive AI machine learning, continuously updated by real-world user insights and a community of over 30,000 IRONSCALES threat hunters.

Simplify Operations

Eliminate the time your team spends remediating email incidents with autonomous remediation without giving up transparency and control.

Empower Your Org

Triple the email security awareness of your workforce. Transform employees into a crucial line of phishing defense with integrated phishing simulation testing and security awareness training.

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“One of our vendors experienced a breach, and the business simply stopped, that’s a scary situation to be in. Although I was looking for an email security product with IRONSCALES, it’s reassuring that we also got added protection against account takeover attacks.”
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Paul Jones, Head of IT The Alchemist

Frequently Asked Questions

How does IRONSCALES detect and prevent account takeover attempts?

IRONSCALES detects account takeover attempts by monitoring how users access and use their accounts over time. By analyzing behavioral patterns across account activity and communications, the platform identifies deviations that may indicate compromise. When suspicious behavior is detected, IRONSCALES surfaces the incident with full context so teams can quickly investigate and respond.

What are the signs of an ATO attack that IRONSCALES can catch?

IRONSCALES looks for changes in established user behavior, such as new devices or locations, abnormal login patterns, unusual sending behavior, or unexpected shifts in communication timing. These indicators are evaluated together to identify suspicious internal or external activity that may signal an account takeover.

Does IRONSCALES require specific Microsoft licenses for account takeover protection?

No. IRONSCALES Account Takeover Protection works across Microsoft 365 environments without requiring specific Microsoft security licenses. The platform monitors account behavior and activity independently, allowing organizations to deploy ATO protection consistently regardless of their Microsoft licensing mix.

Can IRONSCALES stop internal phishing emails from compromised employee accounts?

Yes. IRONSCALES scans both inbound and internal messages. If a compromised user begins spreading phishing emails internally, the platform can detect and remove related messages across affected inboxes, helping stop ATO-driven attacks before they escalate.

How does IRONSCALES respond once a compromised account is detected?

Once a potential compromise is identified, IRONSCALES provides full visibility into the incident and related activity. Security teams can review the context, contain the threat by removing related messages, and take direct action on the affected account, such as forcing a log-out or disabling the user. Automation thresholds and integrations can be adjusted to align with broader incident response workflows.

Does IRONSCALES integrate with other security tools for coordinated incident response?

Yes. IRONSCALES integrates with SIEM, SOAR, and IAM tools to support coordinated detection and response workflows. This allows organizations to align ATO detection with identity protection, endpoint monitoring, and security orchestration platforms.

What role do employees play in helping stop account takeover attacks?

Employees play a key role by reporting suspicious messages using the Report Phishing button. When a report is submitted, IRONSCALES analyzes the activity in context and, if a threat is confirmed, applies the appropriate response across the environment. This collaboration between users and the platform helps surface compromised accounts earlier and reduce attacker dwell time.

Stop Email Attacks.

Dead In Their Tracks.

Get better protection, simplify your operations, and empower your organization against advanced threats today.