Detect impossible travel

Impossible travel is the scenario where a user moves between two locations faster than possible by any means of travel. It is a simple form of anomaly detection and could be an indication that the account is compromised. There are a few other reasons why impossible travel can happen, including:

  • The user is using a proxy that is turned on or off between requests, causing a sudden jump in location. (However, the Castle signal "Impossible travel" will not trigger for the same device, which removes this behavior from being flagged)
  • A sign of phising or malware
  • Account sharing, i.e. two or more physical users are sharing the account

Nevertheless, when impossible travel happens, it could be a sign of unwanted behavior that warrants additional attention. With Castle it's easy to spot impossible travel by using signals.

Step 1. Find users with impossible travel

In the Explore view:

  1. Add a filter for the "Impossible Travel" signal.
  2. Optionally add the "New Device" signal to focus on higher-risk logins.
  3. Group the results by user to review the affected accounts and activity.

Use the Explore guide for filtering and grouping details.

Step 2. Create a policy to challenge impossible travel

Follow the steps how to create a policy , and provide these options:

  • For name, use e.g. "Challenge impossible travel"
  • For event group, select "Login Succeeded"
  • For inline action, select "challenge"
  • For trigger condition, selects Signals and then "is one of Impossible travel, New device".
  • Verify the settings and hit "save"

Finally, enable and re-order the policy to put the new policy to work


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