Combating Cybercrime: Why Dark Web Monitoring Is Essential
The fast-expanding digital landscape of businesses has a concerning side-effect: cybercrime. Cybercrimes cost global enterprises millions in financial damage. If unchecked, it could cost the U.S. a staggering $1.82 trillion by 2028, up from around $320 billion as of 2023.
Beyond financial loss, cybercrime also causes:
- Loss of customers and clients
- Reputational damage
- Operational disruptions
- Negative business valuation
The dark web is one of the biggest contributors to cybercrime and provides cybercriminals a platform to discuss and exploit system vulnerabilities with other hackers. Through the dark web, hackers can learn about software flaws and infiltrate systems, steal data, and conduct financial extortion.
Many traditional security measures, such as firewalls and antivirus software, are reactive, focusing on mitigating damage after a cyberattack. Enterprises cannot rely on such internal security measures alone to protect them against malicious exploits. They need a more proactive mechanism, such as dark web monitoring, to guarantee total protection. Dark web monitoring gives enterprises the external intel to detect such threats early and build a more robust security posture.
Understanding the Dark Web
Search engines like Google or Bing do not index the dark web. You need specific software to access it, such as a TOR browser. Cybercriminals use it to trade illegal substances, weapons, hacking tools, and malware. They also use it to share stolen passwords, credit card information, databases, or identities.
The surface web is the most accessible part of the internet, while the deep web includes unindexed information. The dark web, a subset of the deep web, allows data access via peer-to-peer sharing (P2P sharing).
The Threat Landscape for Enterprises
Without robust cybersecurity, enterprises become easy targets for cyberattacks, especially data breaches involving sensitive data like patient records or social security numbers.
A data breach can irreversibly damage a company’s reputation and cause it to lose millions of customers, not to mention legal consequences.
Enterprises may also face other threats, such as ransomware attacks, in which cybercriminals hold sensitive company information “ransom” for money. Or, they may face corporate espionage, where “trusted” insiders can destroy, seize, or sell critical data.
The dark web hosts forums and marketplaces where attackers gather intelligence by sharing hacking tools, resources, and other strategies. Cybercriminals also use the dark web’s encrypted communication channels to collaborate.
Any enterprise, big or small, is vulnerable to hacking. In 2021, networking behemoth LinkedIn reported a massive breach that exposed the user data of 700 million profiles on a dark web forum, affecting over 90% of its user base. In 2013, American retail chain Target experienced a data breach that stole 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million personal records.
Dark Web Monitoring: What It Is and How It Works
Dark web monitoring refers to the continuous surveillance of dark web forums, marketplaces, and communication channels. Without a dark web monitoring system, a company’s most well-planned cybersecurity measures can fall by the wayside.
Here are some automated tools you can use to collect and analyze data on the dark web:
- Web crawlers and scrapers to extract dark web data
- Machine learning (ML) algorithms to identify valuable links
- Natural language processing (NLP) to detect threat-sensitive conversations
- Automated alerting systems to set alerts for potential threats
Automated tools are not infallible, as they may issue false-positive alarms or dismiss legitimate risks. Companies should consider hiring skilled threat analysts to validate findings from these tools. Human analysts also provide a behavioral context to AI data by decoding specific threats or their motivations.
For enhanced protection against cybercrime, businesses must integrate dark web monitoring solutions into their current cybersecurity infrastructure. For instance, they can combine dark web threat data with centralized Security Information and Event Management systems (SIEM) or use Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs). Feeding dark web monitoring data into incident response workflows and SOAR platforms is another alternative.
Benefits of Dark Web Monitoring for Enterprises
Early Threat Detection
Proactively scanning the dark web can help enterprises identify threats and update security protocols before an attack.
Enhanced Incident Response
Leveraging dark web monitoring allows businesses to quickly patch vulnerabilities to limit the damage of an upcoming attack.
Data Breach Prevention
By tracing the dark web for sensitive credentials or data, enterprises can determine the scope of the breach and prevent its recurrence.
Strengthening Overall Security Posture
Dark web monitoring can help security teams gain insight into the attackers’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and develop tactical countermeasures for future threats.
Implementing Dark Web Monitoring: Key Steps for Enterprises
Assess the Need
The first step for enterprises is to build a threat landscape to identify their most valuable and sensitive data assets.
Enterprises should choose dark web monitoring tools and services that offer comprehensive coverage. They must also ensure that the selected tools integrate seamlessly with their existing cybersecurity systems and come with reliable customer support.
Dark web monitoring solutions produce the best results when monitoring data is fed into existing SIEM systems for a centralized view of security events.
Companies should have an action plan for responding to, containing, and minimizing threat discoveries. Security team members should have well-defined roles and duties, from monitoring to incident response.
Security teams must regularly review the performance of monitoring tools and incident-response procedures. They must also stay updated with emerging cybercriminal tactics and threat intelligence reports.
Overcoming Challenges in Dark Web Monitoring
Dark web monitoring can generate a lot of irrelevant data, including false positives. To avoid this, businesses need to adopt a more efficient approach. They can use ML algorithms to filter irrelevant data and focus on real threats, along with fine-tuning monitoring tools to evolving threat landscapes. They should also perform a contextual analysis of threats and comparison with internal security data.
Enterprises must also comply with privacy and legal regulations during dark web monitoring by using data anonymization techniques and setting clear ethical guidelines for dark web monitoring. They must also ensure compliance with state and cybercrime laws.
As the organization expands, so will the amount of dark web data. To ensure scalability, the company can use cloud-based solutions to adapt and manage data growth. They will need to develop adaptive threat models with machine learning to update threat detection systems. Lastly, they must train security teams and employees on new threat trends.
Case Studies: Enterprises Benefiting
From Dark Web Monitoring
Dark web monitoring has helped hundreds of global corporations safeguard their data, including LendingTree, one of the largest loan marketplaces in the United States.
LendingTree uses SpyCloud ATO Prevention to scan the dark web for compromised credentials. SpyCloud’s automated tool provides critical alerts and reduces cyberattacks by preventing “bad actors” from accessing millions of key accounts without burdening the security team.
The Future of Dark Web Monitoring in Enterprise Cybersecurity
Dark web monitoring tools are advancing to keep up with emerging threats. In the future, dark web monitoring solutions will automate critical actions such as disabling threatened accounts, notifying users, and launching remediation strategies. Using ML algorithms and advanced analytics, they will also be able to profile threat actors and their behaviors with predictive threat insights.
Conclusion: Dark Web Monitoring Is the Future of Cybersecurity
Cyberthreats evolve daily, and businesses risk losing valuable data without addressing system vulnerabilities. This is where dark web monitoring comes in.
Dark web monitoring helps businesses:
- Detect incoming threats early
- Act quickly to circumvent potential breaches
- Protect sensitive data before cybercriminals exploit them
Proactive dark web monitoring is the only way to reduce potential threats so enterprises remain resilient in the face of rising cybercrime incidents.
Do not wait for a cyberattack to happen. Take control of your cybersecurity today and secure your company’s assets with dark web monitoring solutions.
Content created and provided by Extu.
