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Global Accelerated Learning • Est. 1999
Glossary Term Token Theft

Training Camp • Cybersecurity Glossary

What is Token Theft?

Token theft is stealing session cookies or OAuth tokens to impersonate a user and bypass passwords and MFA, often via pass-the-cookie attacks.

Glossary > Threats, Malware & Attacks > Token Theft

Understanding Token Theft

Token theft is the capture and reuse of authentication artifacts, such as session cookies, OAuth refresh tokens, or bearer tokens, allowing an attacker to impersonate a user without knowing their password or completing MFA. Techniques include pass-the-cookie attacks, infostealer malware, and adversary-in-the-middle phishing that intercepts post-authentication tokens. Mitigations include token binding, short token lifetimes, conditional access, and phishing-resistant authentication.

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