Data breaches are scary! Imagine someone snagging your company’s login credentials or employee information and selling it on the dark web. Uh oh! That could lead to a hacker shopping spree using your accounts or, even worse, identity theft for your employees. 

Here’s where dark web monitoring comes in, like a knight in shining armor. It’s a detective service for your company’s data. These services constantly scour the dark web, that shady corner of the internet, to see if your company’s info has been leaked. If it finds something suspicious, it fires off an alert so you can immediately take action.

Think of it like catching a burglar red-handed. You can change passwords, freeze accounts, and minimize the damage by spotting the leak early. Pretty cool. But sometimes you need support from experts like managed IT services in Philadelphia. 

How Does Private Data Get Into the Darknet?

Hackers sell your assets, login credentials, and private information on the darknet. Adversaries keep demonstrating that they are more advanced than malware. In an attempt to evade detection by conventional antivirus software, attackers are increasingly adopting the “living off the land” (LOTL) strategy, whereby they attempt to accomplish their objectives using credentials that have been stolen and built-in features.

Some of the most common methods malevolent users use to obtain personal information are as follows.

Phishing

Cybercriminals impersonate legitimate email requests to send phishing emails that attempt to obtain sensitive information.

Botnets, Malware, and Loaders

Hackers use a variety of malicious software programs to obtain and release confidential documents.

Unsecured Channels

If your network isn’t secure and a hacker is physically close to you, they can access your personal information.

Deficiencies and Abuses

Additionally, exploit kits can be found on numerous forums. To get access, they look for and take advantage of security holes (flaws) in hardware or software that allow them to insert malicious code.

Keylogging

Keystroke logging keeps track of your press keys, allowing hackers to follow your movements and get encryption keys.

Scraping Off the Screen

It is the action of duplicating the data that is visible on your screen.

Four Elements of Monitoring the Dark Web

The following are a few characteristics of dark web surveillance.

1. Intelligence on Threats

Tools for monitoring the dark web can map out helpful areas of the network and identify significant sources of threat intelligence or information that can be used to lessen or stop hacking. You can subscribe to a threat intelligence feed with a dark web monitoring tool, saving you money by eliminating the need to pay a specialist to find, compile, and evaluate threat intelligence manually. 

2. Looking for Threats

A dark web monitoring service keeps an eye out for new dangers and shields you from deliberate assaults like spoof hacking. Assuming an adversary is behind your system, the service initiates an investigation to find anomalous behavior that suggests malicious activity is present. 

3. Quicker Handling of Emergencies

You might be unaware of a data breach for months if you don’t have dark web monitoring. When cybercriminals obtain your confidential data, you can quickly detect it thanks to dark web monitoring. As a result, you can lessen the time thieves have to copy and sell sensitive data. 

4. Including Security Platforms

Incorporate the dark web monitoring platform into other security programs. Doing this can extract more precise insights from the whole security stack.

The Advantages of Dark Web Surveillance 

Incorporating dark web monitoring into your company’s cybersecurity plan has several advantages; the following four are the principal ones: 

1. Lessen Data Breaches 

Dark web monitoring entails scanning the dark web for stolen IP addresses, email domains, customer lists or data, and employee login credentials. If your company finds this information on the dark web, it can be used to detect current or previous data breaches. By detecting these attacks early on, a company can lessen the harm they do to their finances and reputation. 

2. Prepare for Potential Threats

Organizations can discover what data was stolen and about previous breaches by searching the dark web. Information security teams can determine which systems were compromised and how attackers exploited vulnerabilities. Organizations can use this information to develop a robust action plan for averting similar attacks in the future. 

3. Protect Employee Data

Dark web scans can assist in locating private client or employee information that ends up on the dark web. With this information, it will be possible to prevent thieves from taking advantage of stolen data that makes its way onto the dark web.

4. Shorten the Period Between a Data Breach and the Discovery of the Breach

Without dark web monitoring, businesses may be left in the dark for a considerable time following a data breach. By watching the dark web around the clock, businesses can quickly determine when hackers have accessed their sensitive data. As a result, organizations can also lessen criminals’ time to copy and sell sensitive data. 

Strategies to Keep Company Data Safe from the Dark Web

Multiple strategies exist to avert corporate data disclosure on the dark web.

Provide Training on Security Awareness

Through security awareness training, employees can learn about potential risks, how to handle them, and how to protect company data. Emulations of actual cyberattacks, online training resources, and employee recognition of IT security policies are all components of practical security awareness training.

Take Care When Using BYOD Policies

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies can lower upfront costs and let staff use devices that they are familiar with. Still, they can expose staff to threats that can get past an organization’s cybersecurity safeguards. Businesses should consider implementing device data encryption technologies and creating a well-organized policy for using company resources to reduce the risks connected with Bring Your Device (BYOD) policies.

Three Steps to Prevent the Dark Web from Accessing Your Company Information

The following actions will assist you in preventing sensitive company information from being discovered on the dark web:

1. Create Secure Passwords

The security of their accounts is compromised by the fact that the average employee uses the same password thirteen times. They run a severe risk of theft, fraud, and professional liability when they use a single password. Employees should, therefore, use strong passwords for each account and change them every 30 to 90 days. 

They can also use a password manager to store their login credentials to help them log in automatically to all the websites they visit. A password manager uses a master password to encrypt a password database.

2. Browse Safely

Enabling workers to search the internet for information is crucial to a modern business’s success. Nevertheless, this could compromise the security of the business’ website. Installing or updating security software, such as firewalls, anti-spam filters, anti-spyware, and antivirus, on all company computers or network devices is crucial for ensuring secure web browsing for the business.

3. Safeguard Data

Once the dark web monitoring tool notifies you that the information about your company is on the dark web, time is of the essence. Consider the following actions to lessen the effects:

• Notify the appropriate departments and people. If you discover sensitive company information on the dark web, inform the relevant individuals, departments, and organizations of the situation.
• Keep an eye out for unauthorized modifications. Look for suspicious activity, such as sporadic purchases, communications, or emails to your team or customers. 
• Examine and evaluate. It is essential to ensure that potential vulnerabilities in your company’s applications, network, and third-party website policies are tested and examined. 
• Make use of MFA or multifactor authentication. Think about utilizing MFA with any compatible program. 
• Verify the security of your backups.

Conclusion

Since cybercriminals are unlikely to stop anytime soon, you must take all reasonable precautions to safeguard your business’s data. Using a high-performance network solution is one method to safeguard your users, data, and network against ever-changing threats. It provides centralized management and top-notch solutions that facilitate security consolidation and offer a simplified end-to-end security infrastructure.