The dark web is a place where cybercriminals exchange data and it is important to ask yourself, how do I identify cybersecurity risks on the dark web?
It is rare that cybercriminals work alone and many of them are linked to criminal affiliations. Adapting to these trends is essential. Many organizations are now looking for the ability to extract threat intelligence by data-mining the dark web to achieve a significant IT security advantage.
What is the Dark Web?
The dark web is a part of the internet that is not indexed by search engines such as Google and Bing. The dark web is a network of untraceable online activity and websites on the internet. These are hidden and cannot be found using search engines. In order to access them, you will need specific software, configurations, and authorization credentials with some of them. They are used by lots of different cyber criminals and hackers to keep their web activity hidden.
Therefore, so many organizations are trying to identify cybersecurity risks on the dark web.
How do you identify cybersecurity risks on the Dark Web?
Most IT security experts look for patterns on the dark web as it can reveal multiple things such as a cyberattack in progress, a cyberattack being planned, cyber threat trends, and other possible types of IT security risks.
Signs of a cyber threat can emerge quickly, as financially driven cyber criminals use stolen data to make a profit quickly from the moment they gain entry to an organization’s network.
Based on a study from the Cost of a Data Breach Study from the Ponemon Institute, the average time it takes to identify a cybersecurity incident is 197 days. In addition, any organizations that can contain a breach within 30 days have an advantage as they can lower their financial exposure.
How do I Identify Cybersecurity Risks on the Dark Web? Here are 5 steps to consider.
- Is your organization or industry part of a discussion?
Many organizations keep an alert out to see if they are mentioned on the dark web. This may include certain risk factors including an organization’s name, website, or employees. By analyzing this data, an organization can determine whether a cyber threat is being planned or if data has been stolen. Another factor would be to see if they is mention of a certain niche, industry, or vertical that can compromise your organization.
- Are you looking for personal identifiabexhanle information exchange?
When a cyber security breach has occurred, it can usually be tracked back to the sale of personal identifiable information (PII) including personal health data, financial data, or other sensitive information. The compromised data is usually sold in massive amounts such as credit card numbers as it can turn a huge profit quickly.
- Are you looking for credential exchange online?
Have you ever wondered if your credentials have been stolen? You can probably find your usernames and passwords online however you need to determine whether this is a recent compromise or recycled data from a prior cyber security incident. A great tool to check with is Pwned Passwords.
- Is there signs of phishing attack coordination?
Phishing attacks also known as whaling attacks are becoming more sophisticated daily. There is deep web threat intelligence that can reveal popular cyber security risks. Hackers become actors as they can purchase phishing-as-a-service software kits on the dark web.
- Are there trade secrets?
Trade secrets are huge and worth a lot of money. Market intelligence can signal cyber security risks to cyber criminals. Look for information on your organization, product, market, and much more. Anything that can identify your organization.
How do I Identify Cybersecurity Risks on the Dark Web? Stay proactive with your IT security policy and procedures.
It is important to understand that not all intelligence sources can capture the full scope of a cyber threat. If your organizations rely on outdated technologies, they may fail to mitigate important cyber security risks.
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