The dark web can be a scary place. Especially if you’re new to it and are not properly equipped with all you need to scour safely. Dark web monitoring refers to the process by which you can search, track, or monitor the information regarding your organization on the dark web. With the right tools on the dark web, you can track lost, stolen, or leaked information such as intellectual property, compromised passwords, breached credentials, leaked organization’s sensitive data, etc. Oftentimes, these sensitive information are usually transacted among unscrupulous characters in the dark web.
With proper dark web monitoring tools, you can better detect threats and dangers on the dark web, which is a step further than just anti-virus, anti-malware programs, and programs that help in identity theft monitoring. In the case of these anti-malware and antivirus programs, they help you monitor and prevent any malicious code aimed at stealing information. However, they do very little in situations, where the deed has already been done.
How does dark web monitoring work?
When you utilize these dark web monitoring tools, there is a constant search for stolen, lost, or leaked information in the dark web, in real time. Millions of sites all over the dark are searched simultaneously for specific information like email addresses of the corporation, or general information like the name of the company or industry you operate in.
When any impending threat or loss of information is found, you will receive an alert which can be customized by you. This alert notifies just about anyone or any team relevant to the threat like the legal, marketing, fraud teams, or even human resources.
Features found in dark web monitoring
- Threat intelligence
When the darknet monitoring service receives data matching the search terms, this data is automatically forwarded to the CISO or a SOC (Security Operations Center).
- Threat hunting
For individuals who are considered threat hunters, monitoring the dark web can help speed up their search and give them a more complete picture of the danger and nature of a potential threat. This can help prevent phishing or ransomware attacks, for example.
- Quicker incidence response
With quicker responses to incidences of threat and danger, there will be faster threat mitigation.
Why should you use dark web monitoring?
On the dark web, there are a lot of things to worry about. Apart from lost credentials, dark web monitoring can also reveal chatter or activity around a business or company that has been attacked, is under attack, or reveal any impending attack.
Using this service, you can classify or rank risks from unknown sources in order of severity, and businesses can use this classification to identify and mitigate dangers quicker. Some of those risks include;
- Data dumps to criminal chatrooms or hackers forum
- Third party breaches
- P2P leaks
- Brand misuse
- Accidental leaks
- Domain spoofing
- Impersonations
- Potential threats
Benefits of dark web monitoring
Dark web monitoring affords you with the ability to track leaked data and the time it has spent released. Actively monitoring the dark web with these tools, give cybercriminals less time to execute attacks and leak sensitive information.
Additionally, businesses that monitor the dark web can find out if a breach is imminent, or if they are likely to be breached. If a breach does happen, it will give them an insight as to who is leading the attack and what method of attack is being employed.
Who needs dark web monitoring tools?
Simply put, everybody. These services are important to businesses or individuals whose job is to protect the online presence of other businesses. It is also for businesses with valuable intellectual or sensitive information that may be a target to cybercriminals.
