Cybercriminals are getting cleverer in their methods of attack, and falling prey to cyber-attacks is detrimental to an enterprise’s existence. Aside from the loss of valuable information, an attack causes loss of money and customer trust as they face hefty fines, legal liabilities, and sanctions. If cybercriminals do not demand ransom, they often sell the stolen information on the dark web. Given the rise in hacking, most organizations are including dark web monitoring into their cyber security programs.
Defining the dark web
The dark web comprises a decentralized network of internet sites designed to give users better anonymity. The system routes its communication through several servers, increasing the level of anonymity through encryption.
The clear web, which most internet users know and access through various search engines, makes up about four percent of the overall data across the web. The balance is available on the unindexed deep web in which the dark web is a subsection.
Traditional search engines do not index the data on the deep web. Access to it requires special permissions. Examples are your Amazon account or your private Facebook profile. Similarly, search engines do not index the dark web. While it is a small subsection of the deep web, this is the place for cybercriminals’ illicit activities.
Why do you need to monitor the dark web?
Dark web monitoring is crucial to a business because it lets you know if your organization’s valuable information is already on any site on the dark web. With a dark web monitoring tool, you plug your devices into the web data API to have a continuous stream of data feeds.
Benefits include the following:
Increases the opportunity to identify and reduce the impact of a data breach
Attempts to hack into an organization’s network occur every day. A dark web monitoring tool scours the dark web for stolen information. You may never know if your IP address, business email domains, employee login credentials, and client data are already there. If the monitoring tool discovers any information related to your organization, it can alert you of past or current attacks, helping you minimize the damage.
Helps you better prepare for future attacks
Monitoring gives you information about past attacks, what type of data they stole, and which systems were compromised. Data from monitoring shows your security team the vulnerabilities in your system and how the criminals manipulated these weaknesses. With the information, you can create a better action plan to mitigate future attacks.
Safeguards employee and client data
Scanning the dark web gives you an insight into the type of sensitive information that typically ends up on it. The knowledge can help you implement strategies to protect your organization, employees, or clients’ information better.
Helps reduce the gap between a data breach and finding out about it
Dark web monitoring goes on 24/7. If a data breach occurs, the tool alerts you immediately, and your IT security can quickly deploy stopgap measures to prevent further damage.
Choose a dark web monitoring tool that integrates artificial intelligence to monitor private networks, sites, forums, blogs, and chat rooms that cybercriminals frequent.
