Explainer · Account takeover
Glossary
Account takeover (ATO)
Criminal control of a legitimate account.
Definition
Account takeover is when a criminal gains control of a real customer's account, usually with stolen credentials, a phished one-time passcode or a hijacked phone number, and then uses it to move money, change contact details or open new products.
Related terms
- OTP botAutomated calls that trick victims into reading out codes.
- SIM swapHijacking a phone number by moving it to a new SIM.
- Phishing-resistant MFAAuthentication a fake site can't relay.