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:
- Add a filter for the "Impossible Travel" signal.
- Optionally add the "New Device" signal to focus on higher-risk logins.
- 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
Updated 10 days ago
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