Key Points
- Masquerade attacks involve cybercriminals posing as trusted users or devices to access your network.
- A single attack can cost an organization millions and result in the loss of data and intellectual property.
- The best defense against masquerade attacks is a layered approach that includes user education, zero trust security, and certificate-based authentication.
Masquerade attacks are a simple but common type of cyberattack that relies on impersonation. These attacks take advantage of basic vulnerabilities in processes and systems to impersonate trusted devices or users, often giving hackers access to key internal data. The impact can be costly: business email compromise (BEC) attacks a common type of masquerade attack cost companies $129,186 per incident.
It’s possible to defend against masquerade attacks with modern security approaches that eliminate or harden key vulnerabilities. Ensure your organization stays safe by learning more about how masquerade attacks work and how to prevent them.
What Is a Masquerade Attack?
A masquerade attack (or masquerading attack) is an impersonation attack in which a scammer uses stolen credentials, spoofed IP addresses, or forged certificates to gain unauthorized access to data or systems. The goal is to hijack privileges by appearing to be a legitimate user or device.
Masquerade attacks are distinct from other common types of cyberattacks like replay attacks and man-in-the middle attacks. Where those intrusions involve intercepting and reusing data and information, masquerade attacks rely on misrepresentation or theft to appear legitimate to security systems.
The Mechanics of a Masquerade Attack: Three Common Approaches
An attacker planning a masquerade attack begins by finding a vulnerable target. This could be a dishonest employee, organizations with lax security protocols, or vulnerabilities in authentication systems. Next, cybercriminals steal login credentials or alter documentation, allowing them to appear legitimate to security systems.
Once inside, masquerade attackers often steal sensitive data, transfer money, or install malicious code. They may also install backdoors that enable them to maintain access to systems beyond the initial login.
Many masquerade attacks use these or similar techniques:
- Phishing: A masquerade attack in which a criminal poses as a trusted person or entity to convince a user to reveal sensitive data, often by clicking a link in an email or text message. Clicking the link may also trigger the installation of malware.
- MAC spoofing: MAC hanging a device’s 12-digit MAC address. Attackers may change the MAC number of their own device to match that of a trusted device, or change it to a random number if their device’s number is on a blacklist.
- Renaming: Masquerade attackers often rename legitimate utilities so they can use them without triggering security mechanisms. Or, they may deploy malicious files that match the names of legitimate resources.
- Certificate forgery: Impersonating devices or users with valid digital certificates to appear legitimate to security systems.
Masquerade Attacks in the Real World
Masquerade tactics are often part of larger cyberattacks, and have played a key role in giving bad actors access to sensitive systems in multiple high-profile cybercrimes. Here are three real-world examples:
- In Operation Aurora, employees at 34 high-profile companies — including Google, Yahoo, and Adobe — clicked an email link that installed Trojan horse programs, allowing intruders to control their computers remotely. Hackers were able to access sensitive accounts and steal intellectual property.
- The Equifax Breach exposed the personal data of 147 million people in 2017, resulting in a $425 million settlement. Hackers used a vulnerability in an online portal to break into Equifax’s network and steal user credentials, allowing them to access corporate databases
- In Operation ShadowHammer, a criminal group distributed fake copies of ASUS’ Live Update utility complete with a stolen certificate. The backdoor attack gave them access to more than 57,000 computers worldwide, and allowed them to target high-profile users.
Masquerade Attack Impacts
A successful masquerade attack can impact an organization in multiple ways, with effects that can last years. Notable recent attacks have resulted in:
- Financial loss: Damages can run into the tens of millions, with examples including Ubiquiti’s $46.7 million loss, Toyota’s $37 million loss, and a $100 million payment scam targeting Google and Facebook employees.
- Business downtime: Perpetrators often reconfigure or disable security tools, which can interfere with user logins. Attackers may also destabilize or crash core business systems.
- Data exposure: Data breach fines can be hefty, as the Equifax breach made clear. The FTC recommends hiring a data forensics team to determine the source and scope of any data breach, helping to limit fallout.
- Reputational damage. When details of a breach go public it can take years to recover user trust in the security of systems and data.
- Intellectual property theft: A common masquerade attack target is protected IP like product specifications or source code which can be resold later on.
How to Prevent a Masquerade Attack
No single strategy or technology solution will stop every type of masquerade attack. Organizations should adopt a layered prevention approach that includes the following elements:
- User education: Phishing training can reduce the likelihood of a successful intrusion. It’s also important to train employees on creating uncrackable passwords.
- Behavioral analysis: Behavioral analysis tools establish a baseline of normal network activities and flag unusual behavior to enable immediate intervention.
- Device and browser fingerprinting: Fingerprinting tools tie each user to a particular device or browser profile. If a user’s credentials are used on an unknown device, the system will alert the security team.
- Endpoint protection: Endpoint protection platforms (EPPs) can block viruses and ransomware, stop unknown programs from running, and limit which devices (such as thumb drives) can access each endpoint.
How to Identify Masquerade Attacks and Minimize Impact
With the right processes and tools in place, it’s possible to identify and defeat masquerade attacks before they cause damage. Here are four reliable methods:
- Anomaly-based intrusion detection systems (IDS): Tools that monitor system activity and alert the security team when users or devices display abnormal behavior.
- Decoy documentsresources used as bait that immediately alert the security team when hackers open them.
- Security assessments: Routine red-team exercises enable the security team to test defenses by launching mock masquerade attacks.
- Penetration tests: More in-depth testing allows the security team to see how well security tools and processes ID and contain mock masquerade attacks.
Building a Trusted Defense Against Masquerade Attacks
The most robust defenses against masquerade attacks begin by preventing perpetrators from gaining an initial foothold in a network. Multi-factor authentication and certificate-based network access are designed to do just that.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
MFA requires website users to present at least one other piece of identification, such as a fingerprint along with their username and password to gain access to a website. It’s unlikely a cybercriminal but MFA is not a failsafe security solution.
Zero Trust, Certificate-Based Security with Cloud RADIUS
The strongest approach to security will be one that replaces automatic trust with constant verification. Zero trust is a security approach that requires users and devices to provide verification for every access request, as opposed to verifying once and then blindly trusting afterwards. The key difference is replacing user credentials with digital certificates.
SecureW2’s Cloud RADIUS makes it easy for organizations to implement zero trust across remote and hybrid networks, eliminating password-related network threats. In addition, our network access control service makes it easy to create unlimited certificates aligned with security policies from multiple cloud vendors. And SecureW2’s dynamic Public Key infrastructure (PKI) service offers a hassle-free way to move to passwordless security for a wired network.
Modern Systems Ensure Safety from Masquerade Attacks
Though impersonation attacks remain common, there are validated systems and security approaches that offer protection against even sophisticated actors. A smart defense against masquerade attacks in 2026 includes user education and constant monitoring, as well a move to certificate-based authentication systems that remove the need for phishable passwords.
Learn more about updating your security stance by contacting SecureW2 today.
