Passkeys Are Progress, But They’re Not Protection Against Everything

The cybersecurity community is embracing passkeys as a long-overdue replacement for passwords. These cryptographic credentials, bound to a user’s device, eliminate phishing and prevent credential reuse. Major players, like Google, Apple, Microsoft, GitHub, and Okta, have made passkey login widely available across consumer and enterprise services.

Adoption isn’t limited to tech platforms, either. In 2025 alone:

• The UK government approved passkeys for NHS and Whitehall services.
• Microsoft began defaulting to passwordless authentication for new users.
• Aflac, one of the largest U.S. insurers, enrolled over 500,000 users in its first passkey onboarding wave.
• The FIDO Alliance reported that 48% of the top 100 global websites now support passkeys, with more than 100 organizations signing public pledges to adopt them.

It’s a win on many fronts, but it doesn’t solve the identity problem. Authentication controls don’t matter if the device itself is already compromised, and that’s where infostealer malware continues to exploit a critical blind spot in the industry’s rush toward passwordless security.

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Infostealers Don’t Break In, They Log In After You Do

Infostealers are lightweight malware designed to extract sensitive data from infected endpoints — no exploit required. Once installed, they collect:

• Browser-stored credentials
• Authentication tokens and session cookies
• Auto-fill and personal data
• Crypto wallets, system info, and more

The attacker doesn’t need your passkey or password. If your device is infected, they can hijack your authenticated session and access systems without ever touching a login page.

This method for stealing and reusing session artifacts is growing because it works. And in a passkey-enabled world, it’s often invisible to traditional defenses.

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Real-World Data Shows the Risk Is Growing

In Constella’s 2025 Identity Breach Report, we tracked tens of millions of infostealer logs circulating across criminal markets in a single year. These logs often include session cookies and credentials tied to executive, developer, and admin accounts.

This isn’t speculative. These artifacts are actively traded, resold, and used to infiltrate corporate environments. And in many cases, organizations discover the breach only after the stolen data shows up for sale online.

Worse, the malware behind these logs is readily available as a service. Infostealers like Lumma, Raccoon v2, and RedLine are being deployed by low-skill attackers who no longer need phishing kits or password crackers. Just infect the device and extract what’s already there.

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Passkeys Solve One Problem, But Leave Others Unaddressed

To be clear, passkeys are a powerful and necessary evolution. They eliminate phishing vectors and reduce the burden on users. But they assume the endpoint is secure, and increasingly, that assumption doesn’t hold.

If malware has access to the browser’s local storage or the filesystem where session tokens live, passkeys offer no protection. The attacker simply reuses the session token and bypasses authentication entirely.

This is the new frontier of identity-based attacks. And as more organizations adopt passkeys, device compromise and session hijacking will become the primary identity threats.

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A Shift in Strategy: From Authentication to Identity Exposure

Organizations need to rethink their approach. Instead of focusing only on the login layer, security teams must assess whether the identities behind those logins have already been exposed. That starts with extending visibility beyond the perimeter.

1. Monitor for Identity Exposure in the Wild

Track stolen credentials, session cookies, and tokens showing up in infostealer logs and underground markets. These exposures are often the first sign of a compromise.

2. Harden Device Hygiene at the Edge

Endpoint protection and EDR tools remain critical, especially for remote users and unmanaged devices. Many infostealers are delivered through phishing attachments, malicious downloads, or cracked software.

3. Reduce Session Token Lifespan

Short-lived sessions limit attacker dwell time. Pair with device fingerprinting, geo-fencing, or re-authentication triggers to detect anomalous access patterns.

4. Link Exposure to Risk with Contextual Intelligence

The next step is understanding who is exposed, not just what credentials. This requires the ability to correlate disparate data points into a unified identity profile.

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Bringing Risk Into Focus with Identity Intelligence

Constella’s Identity Risk Intelligence solutions enable organizations to surface hidden connections across exposed credentials, session artifacts, and real-world users. By stitching together breach, malware, and dark web data, we help security teams:

• Enrich identity risk scoring with real-world exposure signals
• Link consumer and corporate identities
• Prioritize high-risk individuals based on context, not guesswork

This kind of visibility helps answer questions that authentication tools can’t. When a credential is exposed, is it tied to one of your developers? An executive? An unmanaged personal device accessing corporate systems?

That context makes the difference between an alert and an urgent response.

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Final Thought: Passkeys Are a Start, Not a Solution

We’re moving in the right direction. But the rise of passkeys shouldn’t create a false sense of security. Threat actors have already adapted. They no longer need to steal credentials; they’re quietly collecting access.

Device-level compromise, not credential theft, is becoming the dominant driver of identity risk.

And if your defenses stop at the login screen, you’re not securing the full picture.

Because in today’s threat landscape, it’s not about how strong your passkey is — it’s about whether your session is already in someone else’s hands.

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Want to assess your organization’s identity exposure?

Request a threat exposure report from Constella to see if your employees’ credentials or session tokens have been compromised — and learn how identity risk intelligence can close the gap.

Identity is the connective tissue of today’s enterprise. But with identity comes exposure. Credentials are being stolen, resold, and reused across the cybercriminal underground at a scale that far outpaces traditional defenses. Identity intelligence – the process of collecting, correlating, and acting on data tied to digital identities – has become a core pillar of risk management and threat detection.

This post explores how identity intelligence elevates security operations, the barriers to operationalizing it, and where we go next.

What Is Identity Intelligence?

Identity intelligence combines breach data, malware logs, and underground chatter to create a dynamic picture of identity exposure. When executed correctly, it empowers organizations to:

• Detect compromised credentials in use or circulation
• Attribute malicious activity to users or identities
• Proactively prevent account takeover, fraud, and privilege escalation

According to Gartner, identity intelligence supports both tactical response and strategic decision-making. But let’s be clear: this isn’t about theory. This is about arming teams with the right context at the right time to stop threats before they metastasize.

The Data: Where Identity Intelligence Comes From

Effective identity intelligence starts with expansive, diverse data. Critical sources include:

• Infostealer malware logs: Often overlooked, these data sets reveal credentials harvested from infected devices. They offer unfiltered insight into what adversaries see.
• Dark web forums and marketplaces: Threat actors use these platforms to sell, trade, or leak credentials. Monitoring these channels yields early-warning signals.
• Paste sites and breach repositories: Frequently used to dump credential sets, often anonymously.

The signal lies in the correlation. A breached email address by itself is noise. That same email, tied to an infostealer log, reused password, and recent dark web post? That’s actionable.

Operational Challenges and Hard Truths

Identity intelligence isn’t a plug-and-play solution. You’re dealing with:

• Data overload and false positives: Context is everything. Without it, alerts generate noise, not insights.
• Fragmented systems: Identity data is siloed across IAM tools, custom databases, Active Directory ecosystems, SIEMs, endpoint agents, and HR systems.
• Evolving threats: Infostealers are modular. TTPs shift. Credentials get reused across sectors and campaigns. Intelligence must evolve just as quickly.

The lesson? Organizations must move beyond static lists of leaked credentials. Contextual risk scoring, exposure timelines, and integration with identity providers and Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs) are non-negotiable.

From Monitoring to Mitigation: Automating Identity Threat Response

Knowing a credential is exposed is one thing. Acting on it is another.

Leading security teams are baking identity intelligence into their workflows by:

• Automating password resets and MFA enforcement when credential exposure is confirmed.
• Feeding alerts into SIEM/SOAR platforms for triage and incident correlation.
• Enriching IAM systems with risk-based signals to drive access decisions.

Take Texas A&M as an example. Using identity intelligence, they identified nearly 400,000 compromised credentials, reset affected passwords, and created automated alerts. That’s not theory – that’s operational resilience.

Where Identity Intelligence Fits in Modern Cyber Strategy

As zero trust architectures mature and perimeter-based defenses fade, identity becomes both the battleground and the opportunity. Identity intelligence strengthens:

• Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) by identifying high-risk users and accounts
• Insider risk programs by detecting anomalous behavior tied to compromised identities
• Fraud and trust platforms by surfacing risky logins and behavioral outliers

And it does so without requiring another agent or console. It operates upstream of the compromise.

The Road Ahead: Machine-Scale Identity Risk Management

Looking forward, the role of machine learning in identity intelligence will only grow. It’s already being used to:

• Detect patterns in credential reuse across environments
• Predict likelihood of credential exploitation
• Reduce false positives by enriching identity signals with behavioral data

With infostealer malware on the rise and over 53 million credentials compromised in 2024 alone, intelligence automation is the only way to keep up.

Final Thought

Cybersecurity teams don’t need more alerts. They need clarity. Identity intelligence provides that clarity – surfacing real risks buried in oceans of data and aligning security efforts to the digital realities of today’s enterprise.

If your strategy isn’t integrating identity exposure intelligence, you’re flying blind. It’s time to see.

FAQs

What is identity intelligence?
It’s the process of collecting, analyzing, and acting on data tied to user identities to detect compromised credentials and prevent threats.

What makes identity intelligence actionable?
Context. When data from malware logs, breach dumps, and underground forums is correlated, it provides a timeline and risk score that drive smarter decisions.

How is identity intelligence operationalized?
By integrating with IAM, SOAR, and SIEM systems to automate remediation steps like password resets, MFA enforcement, and access decisions.

What are common data sources?
Infostealer logs, dark web marketplaces, paste sites, breach repositories, and direct threat actor interactions.

What’s next in identity intelligence?
AI-driven risk scoring, real-time credential monitoring, and deeper integrations with zero trust and behavioral analytics platforms.

From Breach to Exploit: How Stolen Credentials Fuel the Underground Economy

In cybersecurity, breaches often make headlines. But what happens next – after usernames and passwords, or active session cookies, are stolen – is just as dangerous. The lifecycle of stolen credentials reveals a dark ecosystem of harvesting, trading, and exploitation. This post explores how attackers weaponize stolen logins and how defenders can disrupt the cycle with identity-centric intelligence.

Stolen Credentials: A Long Tail of Risk Most people think of stolen credentials as a one-time breach. But in reality, credentials have a life of their own. They are:

• Traded across Telegram channels and dark web forums
• Bundled into combo lists
• Sold by Initial Access Brokers (IABs)
• Used for credential stuffing, phishing, and ransomware

One high-profile example is the Colonial Pipeline breach. An attacker accessed the company’s network using a single compromised VPN credential – found in a prior breach dump, reused, and not protected by MFA. The fallout disrupted fuel supplies across the Eastern U.S.

The Stolen Credential Lifecycle in Action

1. Harvest – Phishing attacks, infostealer malware (e.g. RedLine, Raccoon), or exposed databases collect credentials at scale.
2. Distribute – Credentials are sold, leaked, or bundled into logs and combo lists on marketplaces like Genesis or Russian Market.
3. Exploit – Threat actors use stolen credentials for account takeover, initial access resale, or ransomware deployment.

The Flaw of Reactive Alerts

Browser alerts or breach notification services usually fire after credentials have already been traded or used. They rarely include:

• Origin of exposure (malware log vs. third-party breach)
• Whether the credential has been reused elsewhere
• The context for prioritization or response

Breaking the Cycle: What Proactive Looks Like

Identity-centric intelligence allows defenders to act before stolen credentials become incidents:

• Credential Pivoting: Search for reuse across other leaks and malware logs.
• Infostealer Correlation: Determine if credentials came from malware and link to infection vectors.
• Risk Scoring: Use context-aware scoring to flag risky credentials before they’re abused.

Example: Stopping an Infostealer Chain Reaction

Imagine a CISO receives an alert: the CFO’s corporate email and VPN password were found in a fresh infostealer log. Instead of waiting for signs of compromise, the security team can:

• Reset credentials immediately
• Investigate the endpoint for signs of infection
• Monitor for impersonation attempts on executive email and LinkedIn

From Reactive to Resilient

The credential lifecycle doesn’t stop at the breach. It ends when you stop it. By using proactive identity signals, security teams can:

• Shrink their credential attack surface
• Spot identity risk early
• Disrupt ransomware and fraud operations before access is used

Want to see how identity signals can disrupt the breach-to-breach cycle? Download The Identity Intelligence Playbook today.

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The Power of One: From Leaked Credential to Campaign Attribution

Attribution has always been the elusive prize in threat intelligence. The question every CISO wants answered after an attack: “Who did this?” Historically, attribution required heavy resources, deep visibility, and sometimes even luck. But in today’s world of digital risk intelligence, one leaked credential can be the thread that unravels an entire threat network.

In this blog, we explore how modern identity-centric intelligence, powered by breached data, infostealer logs, and automation, can link alias to alias, handle to hackers, and turn a compromised credential into a clear picture of adversary behavior.

The Human Flaw Behind the Keyboard

Cybercriminals may have sophisticated tools and anonymization methods—but they’re still human. And humans make mistakes. They reuse credentials across forums. They use the same Jabber ID or password for years. In the cat-and-mouse game of cyber defense, even one slip-up can be enough to expose an entire operation.

Let’s break down three real-world cases that illustrate this point:

Case 1: A Jabber ID Exposes a 15-Year Operation

The threat actor behind Golden Chickens malware-as-a-service—known as Jack, VENOM SPIDER, or LUCKY—operated in the shadows for over a decade. But Jack reused the same Jabber ID across multiple forums and channels. Investigators from eSentire connected this ID to 15 years of posts, private messages, and aliases. This single identifier allowed researchers to trace Jack’s tactics, infrastructure, and, ultimately, his real-world identity.

Case 2: The Hacker Who Infected Himself In a twist of irony, the actor known as La_Citrix infected his own machine with infostealer malware. That malware did what it was built to do: steal credentials, autofill data, browser cookies, and more. When that data showed up in an infostealer log dump, researchers realized what they were looking at. They used the recovered credentials and accounts to map La_Citrix’s criminal footprint across forums like Exploit.in. One misstep—one accidental infection—and his entire operation was exposed.

Case 3: A Reused Email Takes Down AlphaBay Alexandre Cazes, administrator of AlphaBay (once the largest dark web marketplace), used a personal email address—pimp_alex_91@hotmail.com—for system-generated emails. When a welcome message to new users contained that email in the header, investigators traced it to his real identity. One reused email address was enough to connect his online persona to his real-world self.

Pivoting to Attribution: From Clue to Confidence

These stories share a pattern: one piece of identity data exposed across breach datasets, forums, or malware logs becomes the jumping-off point for attribution. With modern tools and the right dataset, analysts can automate these pivots:

• Alias → Breach data → Forum handles
• Email → Info-stealer log → Saved accounts and behavior
• Password reuse → Cross-platform identity mapping

Why This Matters for CISOs and Threat Intel Teams

Attribution isn’t just about “naming and shaming.” It has a real security impact:

• Link incidents across time and infrastructure
• Predict future targets and attacker behavior
• Strengthen defenses against repeat offenders
• Aid law enforcement and intelligence-sharing

Modern identity-centric platforms like Constella make this practical. With one leaked credential, you can:

• Query a trillion-point breach data lake
• Automate pivots across leaked logs
• Visualize the identity graph that ties aliases together

Want to turn digital breadcrumbs into actionable attribution? Download The Identity Intelligence Playbook today.

The CISO’s View: Too Many Alerts, Too Little Context

Imagine a SOC analyst under pressure. Their screen is filled with IP addresses, malware hashes, geolocations, login alerts, and thousands of other signals. It’s a flood of noise. IOCs used to be the gold standard for cyber threat detection, but today? Attackers don’t need malware or flagged infrastructure – they just log in using valid credentials or stolen active session cookies.

In this evolving threat landscape, stolen identities – not compromised endpoints – are becoming the real front lines. CISOs and their teams are waking up to a new reality: effective threat detection must move beyond the technical and into the human layer.

• The Problem With Traditional Threat Intelligence

Indicators like IP addresses, file hashes, and domains are fleeting. Attackers rotate infrastructure constantly. Polymorphic malware shifts its signature to evade detection. A TOR exit node could belong to an innocent user. And even if you identify something suspicious – what’s next? Who is behind it? Where else have they been active?

Traditional threat intelligence might tell you what’s happening, but not who’s doing it – or how to stop them from coming back.

Identity-Centric Intelligence: A Shift in Strategy

Threats today look like normal logins. Stolen credentials from phishing kits, infostealer malware, or dark web marketplaces are used to impersonate real users. And because these credentials are valid, they often fly under the radar.

Here’s where identity-centric digital risk intelligence comes in. Instead of focusing on technical indicators alone, this approach tracks human and non-human entities:

• Has this email address appeared in multiple unrelated breach dumps?
• Is this password reused across high-risk services?
• Does this user show signs of being synthetic or impersonated?

A Real Threat Example: The Synthetic Insider

Consider a recent pattern: North Korean operatives applying for remote IT jobs in the West. These attackers used synthetic personas, AI-generated profile pictures, and stolen personal data to pass background checks. Once inside, they exfiltrated data for espionage and extortion.

Had identity intelligence been used in the hiring process—checking whether an applicant’s credentials appeared in breach datasets or were linked to known patterns of misuse—these synthetic insiders might have been caught earlier.

Looking Ahead: Identity Signals at the Core of Threat Detection and Threat Intelligence

With identity at the center of detection, attribution, and response, organizations can:

• Prioritize alerts based on exposed identity risk posture
• Correlate credential leaks with actor behavior and infrastructure
• Detect credential misuse before access is granted

Want to understand how identity signals can protect your organization? Download The Identity Intelligence Playbook today.

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