Dark Web Monitoring is an essential element of cyber defence, but often overlooked. Dark Web Monitoring continuously scans the murkiest corners of the Internet for your personal information. If your details are detected on the Dark Web you’ll be automatically notified, allowing you to take remediation steps to prevent your credentials being used.
What is the Dark Web?
It may come as a surprise, but only ~4% of the web is indexed and accessible by internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. This indexable layer of the internet is known as the Surface Web.
The remaining 96% of websites is made up of the Deep Web and the Dark Web. The Deep Web are sites locked behind passwords and MFA, only accessible with the right credentials. Consider your bank. Its main website for customer entry, services and products is available via major search engines and sits on the Surface Web, but your current accounts, savings accounts, and mortgage accounts are only accessible once you’ve verified your identity and logged in, this is the Deep Web.
The third layer is known as the Dark Web, it is a portion of the internet not indexed by search engines, and the content that isn’t visible via regular browsers. Instead, browser like Tor need to be used, which provides anonymity to the user. Criminals use the dark web to exchange stolen credentials, leak data, sell malware, launch phishing campaigns, run bot-nets, sell drugs, and sell and exchange child pornography.
What are the Benefits of Monitoring the Dark Web?
Monitoring the Dark Web will help identify any of your businesses credentials that have been compromised in data leak or company hack. The end user might not even be aware of the compromise, but it gives you a warning, providing valuable time to change passwords and block accounts, and reduces the window of opportunity for criminals to use the credentials.
It increases the chances of identifying and reducuing data breaches, by identifying compromised accounts, and taking action before they are sold on black markets and used.
It can help reduce the time between a data breach occurring and finding out one has occurred. If the worst has happened, the quicker you’re aware of it the quicker mitigations can be put in place.
Consider expanding the protection to key suppliers domains to identify potential supply chain attacks before they happen, and to Executive’s personal email addresses to further enhance protection.
To boost your cyber security and find out further information on Dark Web Monitoring for your organisation, visit Ktecltd – Dark Web Monitoring, or call us 01993 880 980.
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