The banned trade in business data has long been a thriving billion dollar business. With the goal that stolen business data does not become a dilemma for companies, dark web monitoring tools and dark web scans, which comb the deep web and the dark web automatically and in real time for exposed or stolen business data, are particularly necessary. What exactly the Dark Web means and why it is worthwhile for companies to use Dark Web monitoring tools and Darknet scans can be read in the following blog post.
Whether data theft, identity abuse or brand piracy – the risks that come from cybercriminals are known everywhere these days. What a lot of companies fail to recognize, however, is that cybercriminals are not only active in the clear web, the visible part of the web. They also pursue their criminal and fraudulent activities in the hidden part of the World Wide Web, the Deep Web and the Dark Web. The prohibited trade with business data is particularly sought after.
With stolen business data now leaking onto the dark web almost every day, extensive and professional 24/7 monitoring of digital business data would be necessary – especially in the dark parts of the web.
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The platform for criminal business!
With the aim of gaining a general awareness of the structure of the Internet, the Web can be roughly divided into three subcategories: the Clear Web or Surface Web, the Deep Web or Hidden Web and the Dark Web.
The clear web is the part of the web where most visitors move. It makes up about ten percent of the entire Internet and includes all websites and pages that can be found using search engines such as Google, Safari or Firefox. In order to be able to index all Internet pages, so-called web crawlers are used, which meander from link to web link and thus explore millions of new online pages and content every day.
In contrast, the deep web contains the most important part of the WWW with about ninety percent. The Deep Web includes all websites and content that cannot be identified by the majority of search engines – and which in dozens of situations are not readily available to everyone. Something like this can be, for example, company databases, access to bank accounts, email accounts and social messaging accounts or streaming servers.
The dark web, on the other hand, is a compact area of the deep web. For the time being, it is prominent for its anonymity and so-called hidden services, which are only accessible to users who know the dark web domain or are expressly invited by the dark web service providers.
Technically, the Dark Web is composed of many different peer-to-peer networks that operate on the land use of the World Wide Web. The principle of the platforms may differ, but what most have in common is that access to the Dark Web can only be carried out with special anonymization software and encryption software.
One of the most popular anonymization networks for the dark web is the TOR network. TOR stands for “The Onion Routing”, which in German means “the onion routing” and describes the principle of “shell-by-shell” encryption and forwarding of the data. In contrast to the Clear Web, users and servers do not have any direct contact with each other. The communication is always routed via various intermediate nodes – the entry point, the gate node and the exit node, each of which only knows the next destination. The entire connection path with origin, destination and all nodes remains completely closed to those involved and cannot be checked under any circumstances.
Human rights activists, journalists, bloggers and whistleblowers who want to obtain information anonymously or give it out because they fear consequences such as persecution benefit in particular from this protective cloak of this opaque identity.
However, nowadays many Internet criminals also use this anonymity of the dark web, for example to trade in stolen business data, passwords and credit card numbers, to sell prohibited products and services such as ransomware-as-a-service, weapons, drugs and illegal pornographic material or else design their next cyber attack.
Monitor illegal networks – fend off attacks in good time!
In order for companies to be able to actively protect themselves against risks from the dark web, dark web monitoring tools and dark web scans are increasingly being used.
Dark web monitoring tools and dark web scans scan thousands of relevant trading platforms and forums on the deep web and dark web 24/7 for disclosed and stolen business information that has entered the illicit marketplaces of the dark web due to a potentially undetected data theft, data breach or data leak. Webs have arrived. The moment unanimity is revealed, the companies receive an alarm message, which enables them to take the necessary countermeasures. This includes closing security gaps, changing access data or blocking credit cards.
Turn off the lights on cybercriminals on the dark web!
The risks from the dark web are constantly increasing. Important business data that is traded on the forbidden black markets of the Dark Web is increasingly being stolen due to data breaches, data leaks or Internet attacks. The publication of a single password is sufficient for Internet criminals to gain access to the entire corporate network.
However, many dark web threats can now be reduced through proactive IT security measures such as the use of dark web monitoring, dark web scans and regular IT security training.