Search the dark web in real-time to detect a cybersecurity breach before it’s too late
Hacking is big business, and getting access to your data can be a lucrative endeavor. Simply clicking the wrong link in an email or entering your credentials on a compromised site could lead to your data being stolen and sold on the “dark web.” In a world where this kind of credential harvesting and reselling is a constant threat, detecting a data breach early is critical.
If you suspect you have been the victim of a cyber attack, act quickly to determine if your data is for sale. A dark web monitoring service will search for stolen usernames, passwords, email addresses, account numbers, and other confidential data associated with your business. It also tracks when your information was compromised, allowing you to prevent and mitigate the damage that can result from a data breach.
In the last half of 2020, phishing attempts rose by a staggering 650%, meaning it’s never been more essential to take preventative action.
What is the dark web?
First thing’s first, what exactly is the dark web? You can think of it as a hidden universe contained within the “deep web”—an unindexed sublayer of the internet that is invisible to conventional search engines. The internet is made up of three components:
1. The Surface Web
This is the part of the internet that is indexed and accessible through conventional search engines, like Google, BING, and Yahoo. This only makes up 0.04% of the internet.
2. The Deep Web
This represents the other 99.96% of the web, and consists of databases, private accounts such as Gmail and Facebook, private academic and government networks, and the dark web.
3. The Dark Web
This component exists within the deep web and is buried under encryption and masked IP addresses, making it an area where users can operate anonymously. It is not illegal to operate on the dark web – many news organizations use it to protect their reporting from repressive governments – but an estimated 50% of sites there are linked to criminal activities. These can include buying and selling illegal drugs, weapons, and stolen data. The dark web is thought to be around 550 times larger than the surface web, and growing.
How can your information end up on the dark web?
Stolen digital credentials are often leaked and traded on the dark web, but how do they end up there? Third-party websites, such as social media, banking, ecommerce or email sites, are often targeted by hackers. These hackers aim to steal user credentials and passwords in order to gain access to people’s accounts. This means that every time you enter your username and password on one of these sites, you may be vulnerable to a breach.
Over 80% of hacking-related breaches are caused by stolen passwords. By entering your password into a compromised site, you risk opening a portal to the dark web. To make things worse, hackers will often reverse engineer every possible version of your password to gain access to your other accounts. This is why it is so important to use completely different passwords for all of your accounts and to change them often—especially where sensitive banking or business information is involved.
Could your business be at risk?
If your employees click on links in phishing emails or input their work details on third-party websites, your business could also be exposed to cybercrime. Once a hacker gains access to an employee’s account, they can compromise all of your sensitive business information, including documentation, bank account and credit card numbers, email correspondence, and confidential information about your clients. Whether your company’s IT is handled in-house or outsourced to a Managed Service Provider (MSP), it is essential to be vigilant with your data.
Unfortunately, credential harvesting and selling is big business, and breaches are all too common. Below are some notable breaches from the healthcare, retail, and finance sectors. The information from these breaches is available for purchase on the dark web.
How can Umbrella protect your information?
Far too often, companies are unaware that their credentials have been compromised, leaving them and their stakeholders vulnerable to further hacking, malware, and intellectual property theft. Using dark web monitoring, we will detect if your company is at risk and protect you from the kinds of damaging attacks that cost organizations millions. Dark Web ID searches the deepest corners of the web for your exposed credentials, allowing you to act before disaster strikes.
Dark Web ID leverages a combination of human and artificial intelligence to scour all manner of black-market sites in real-time, 24/7, to identify credentials and other personally identifiable information (PII). Using this technology, we can monitor over 500 distinct internet relay chat room (IRC) channels, 600,000 private websites, and 600 Twitter feeds, while executing 10,000 refined queries daily. Most of this data originates from sites that require membership within the hacker community to enter.
By focusing on your top-level email domains and identifying cyber threats that are specific to your environment or industry, we are able to forewarn you of potential breaches before the worst happens. If a data breach is discovered, we will alert you so that you can change your passwords and alert your stakeholders immediately.
Start getting proactive with your IT today by contacting Umbrella Managed Systems. Help starts with a zero-obligation conversation.
Dark Web ID Monitoring Initial Report FAQ
Find answers to the most commonly asked questions after your receive your first Dark Web report.
