The dark web is a hidden part of the internet that is not indexed by traditional search engines. It is often associated with illegal activities such as drug trafficking, weapons sales, and cybercrime. As such, it is important for law enforcement agencies, cybersecurity experts, and businesses to monitor the dark web to detect and prevent criminal activities.
What is the Dark Web?
This monitoring helps in extracting actionable information from the raw intelligence gathered, enabling faster incident response to potential security incidents. Dark web monitoring is the process of searching for, and tracking, your organization’s information on the dark web. Dark web monitoring tools are similar to a search engine (like Google) for the dark web. These tools help to find leaked or stolen information such as compromised passwords, breached credentials, intellectual property and other sensitive data that is being shared and sold among malicious actors operating on the dark web.
Risks Of The Dark Web
The dark web is a part of the internet that requires special software, such as Tor, to access. It is often used by individuals seeking anonymity and privacy, but it is also a haven for criminal activities.
Why Monitor the Dark Web?
Dark Web Vs Deep Web Vs Clear Web
IdentityForce is an all-in-one offering similar to Aura and Identity Guard that provides Dark Web monitoring and comprehensive tools for responding to hackers and online threats. It also monitors public records and investment accounts, and provides customers with valuable fraud restoration services – including remediation for deceased family members. Dark Web monitoring tools and services can warn you when your personal data is compromised — giving you a headstart to secure your accounts and change your passwords before hackers and scammers can access them.
Monitoring the dark web is essential for detecting and preventing cyber threats, such as data breaches, malware distribution, and hacking activities. By monitoring the dark web, organizations can identify potential risks and take proactive measures to protect their data and systems.
Proactive Monitoring Can Help Reduce Risks
How to Monitor the Dark Web
- Use specialized tools and software designed for dark web monitoring.
- Monitor underground forums, marketplaces, and chat rooms frequented by cybercriminals.
- Set up alerts for keywords related to your organization or industry to receive notifications of potential threats.
- Work with cybersecurity experts or third-party vendors who specialize in dark web monitoring.
Actively monitoring the dark web can help you identify whether proprietary corporate data is for sale. Once you have visibility into your organization’s digital footprint and level of risk, it’s time to prioritize your risk mitigation efforts. Using DRP software can make risk prioritization easy through risk scoring using machine learning and automated remediation. Assign each instance of exposed data a score, based on the formula threat times likelihood. This can lend clarity to your risk mitigation efforts as you can systematically work to reduce the most unacceptable risks. It may scare users – whether employees or consumers – to know that their device has been infected with malware and their identity data and credentials have been siphoned and shared on the dark web.
Keeper is a cybersecurity company that offers advanced monitoring and alerting services to help organizations detect and mitigate data breaches and password-related risks. These tools can provide security practitioners early warnings to prevent further exploitation of your confidential information and possible attacks. This is achieved with routine monitoring and swift remediation of exposed assets or identities. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the importance of dark web monitoring cannot be overstated. Spanning dark web monitoring for Microsoft 365 protects your organization’s sensitive information against cybertheft and fraud. It alerts administrators of compromised or stolen employee credentials, enabling them to take proactive steps to secure those accounts before malicious activity occurs.
FAQs
Q: Is it legal to monitor the dark web?
- Although not everyone is using the Dark Web to engage in illegal activities, it has a history of also being leveraged as a platform for political dissidents and corporate whistleblowers.
- When using SpyCloud’s recaptured data for consumer alerts, choose what data points to share for education and action.
- The part of the iceberg under the water is the “deep web.” Search engines won’t bring you to the pages here.
- Recorded Future’s natural language processing capabilities enable the platform to automatically translate and analyze dark web sources in multiple languages, offering deep analysis capabilities for 12 languages.
- For example, a “noindex” meta tag can be used in the page’s HTML, or the content can be password-protected or paywalled.
A: Monitoring the dark web for legitimate security purposes is legal. However, engaging in illegal activities on the dark web is prohibited.
If you see unauthorized charges or believe your account was compromised contact us right away to report fraud. Elevate your defenses with Entro, a comprehensive solution that takes secrets protection to the next level – way beyond dark web monitoring. In a world where cyber threats loom large, safeguarding your secrets is non-negotiable. Did you know that according to Avast “90% of advertised exploits on dark marketplaces sell for less than $10”? Don’t put your secrets up for sale—arm yourself with the ability to monitor the dark web to see if your secrets are exposed. Early breach detection empowers security teams to minimize risk exposure, maintain physical security and minimize harm from attacks.
Q: Can businesses benefit from monitoring the dark web?
Who controls the dark web?
The dark web is also unregulated, meaning that it is run and upheld by a vast network of individuals around the world. This network contains thousands of volunteers who operate proxy servers to route dark web requests.
A: Yes, businesses can benefit from monitoring the dark web to protect their sensitive data, intellectual property, and reputation.
They can scan millions of sites in real-time to give you deep and valuable insights into dark web activity. Any instances where your company is mentioned or your information is identified will be flagged, and your IT team can be alerted. This gives you visibility over your data and where it has been shared, before it is used in an attack against you. The Recorded Future Intelligence Platform is a comprehensive threat intelligence solution that utilizes machine learning and natural language processing to analyze data from the dark web. It helps organizations quickly identify, profile, and mitigate cyber risks, focusing on proprietary data, lost credentials, and mentions of company, brands, or infrastructure. The solution uses machine learning to extract actionable information from proprietary threat intelligence and frontline knowledge, resulting in higher quality alerts and reduced time wastage due to false positives.
In conclusion, monitoring the dark web is crucial for staying ahead of cyber threats and safeguarding against potential attacks. By being proactive and vigilant, organizations can mitigate risks and protect themselves from cybercriminal activities.
Who benefits from the dark web?
There are some benefits to the dark web.
For example, users evading government censorship can share information about what is happening in their country. Whistleblowers often come to the dark web to find allies who can take their secrets and share them more publicly elsewhere.