CAP User Exposure API

State and local government agencies – including departments, municipalities, and public education institutions –manage extensive volumes of user accounts across citizen-facing portals, employee systems, student services, and administrative platforms. These accounts often hold highly sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information (PII), financial aid details, government credentials, and payroll information.

If compromised, these accounts can lead to identity theft, fraud, service disruption, and regulatory exposure.

**SpyCloud **enables public sector organizations to prevent account takeover (ATO) fraud that targets civil servants, educators, students, and government employees. Cybercriminals who gain unauthorized access can manipulate data, redirect payments, or launch attacks that compromise critical public systems and trust in digital government services.

🚨 Why Account Takeover Is a Growing Threat for SLED

As public services increasingly shift online and school systems rely more heavily on digital infrastructure, account security has become an essential line of defense. Credential-based attacks are growing due to the following challenges:

• Password reuse: Constituents, employees, and students often reuse passwords across systems, increasing exposure to credential stuffing.
• Malware and phishing: Devices infected through phishing emails or fake service notifications can leak login credentials and personal data.
• Fraudulent account actions: Once attackers gain access to government or education accounts, they may:
  • Alter student or staff records
  • Redirect tax refunds, benefit payments, or payroll deposits
  • Access sensitive records related to education, housing, public health, or benefits
  • Lock out legitimate users, halting essential services or disrupting academic operations

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These incidents can result in service interruptions, loss of public trust, and increased compliance and legal liabilities.

🛡️ Proactive Defense with SpyCloud

SpyCloud empowers government agencies and education institutions to identify compromised credentials and exposed data before bad actors exploit them. By leveraging a continuously updated repository of breach, malware, and phishing data, public sector entities can:

• Detect vulnerable user accounts in real time—whether belonging to employees, students, or citizens
• Prevent fraud, system abuse, and account lockouts
• Strengthen IAM (Identity and Access Management) policies and authentication workflows
• Minimize the impact of data leaks, breaches, and service disruption

🧰 User Exposure API for Government & Education

SpyCloud’s User Exposure API allows IT and security teams to query our threat intelligence database using common identifiers such as:

• Email address
• Phone number
• Username
• IP adress

With seamless integration into existing systems, agencies and institutions can:

• Block logins using known-exposed credentials found in criminal sources
• Detect malware-infected endpoints – from student laptops to administrative workstations
• Identify PII exposure and associated risks across more than 200+ data types

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This intelligence gives public organizations real-time visibility into user risk before compromise leads to a larger incident.

⚙️ How It Works

1. Submit a user identifier (email, phone number, etc.) via SpyCloud API (plaintext or SHA1 hash). TLS encryption ensures secure data transmission.
2. SpyCloud returns exposure records from our breach, malware, and phishing collection.
3. Your systems evaluate the exposure:
   • Is the password still active within your environment?
   • Was the data tied to malware or phishing campaigns?
4. Take action based on risk level:
   • Force a password reset
   • Trigger step-up verification (e.g., multi-factor authentication)
   • Flag the account for investigation or temporarily disable access

🎯 Key Benefits for SLED

• Prevent unauthorized access to internal systems, student portals, and public services
• Detect compromised accounts tied to payroll, citizen records, or educational data
• Minimize fraud risk involving public funds or academic credential manipulation
• Reduce help desk load for account lockouts and identity recovery
• Support compliance with data privacy regulations like FERPA, CJIS, or state-specific mandates

📌 Why It Matters

Exposed credentials and user data – whether from breaches or malware – are actively used by cybercriminals to infiltrate public institutions. For government agencies and schools, the risks include:

• Unauthorized changes to sensitive data or services
• Loss of funding or delays in critical programs
• Public backlash and reputational harm
• Regulatory penalties due to improper access controls

Integrating SpyCloud’s credential intelligence gives public sector organizations the ability to act quickly – preventing fraud, protecting citizen data, and ensuring continuity of service delivery.