The Credential Abuse Cycle: Theft, Trade, and Exploitation

This ReliaQuest report analyzes the credential-abuse lifecycle: how credentials are harvested (infostealers, phishing, accidental exposures), traded on underground forums, marketplaces and Telegram, and exploited via credential stuffing and valid-account abuse—illustrated by case studies including RedLine takedowns and the UNC5537 Snowflake campaign—while recommending monitoring, IoC blocking, credential rotation, and automated response playbooks to detect and contain compromises.