If you’re like most people, you spend a good chunk of your time searching for things on Google and browsing the internet. However, the websites indexed by traditional search engines don’t account for the whole internet. Beyond the indexed or “surface” Web, there’s a sub-layer of the internet called the Dark Web where users remain anonymous.
Even if you never access this part of the internet, it can still potentially affect you and your business. Here are the answers to a few important questions you might have about the Dark Web, what happens there, and how it could impact your organization.
1. What do people do on the Dark Web? Because users can remain anonymous while visiting this sub-space of the internet, it’s become a prime location for illegal activity. There’s been a lot of focus on illicit drug sales on the Dark Web, but the shady deals that happen there also include the sale and purchase of stolen credentials for the purpose of hacking and gaining access to sensitive data.
2. How do people access the Dark Web? They use the browser Tor, which lets them remain anonymous and untraceable by routing requests through a series of proxy servers around the world, according to CSO. The process makes their IP addresses unidentifiable.
3. Why should I worry about this layer of the internet when it comes to cybersecurity? If anyone in your company has had their credentials stolen and distributed on the Dark Web, it could lead to a disastrous data breach down the line.
And bad password practices aren’t uncommon: A 2017 Keeper Security survey of 1,000 smartphone users found 29% shared their passwords with 2 or more people. Additionally, 87% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 30 and 81% of those 31 and older said they reuse the same password for multiple accounts.
As cloud solutions have become more prevalent, end users have started juggling more accounts and passwords than ever, so the risk of their information getting compromised has gone up. Hackers continue to develop new techniques and find more dynamic ways of targeting end users, ranging from phishing to fake websites to tricking users into downloading malicious codes.
If anyone who works at your organization hasn’t been as vigilant as they should about protecting their passwords, their info could already be for sale on the Dark Web.
4. What can I do to make sure my information isn’t for sale on the Dark Web? Many end users we talk to these days have heard of identity theft protection services like LifeLock and use them to safeguard and monitor the security of their personal information, such as their credit card info and social security number. Businesses need to follow suit and begin monitoring the security of sensitive and important information.
Dark Web monitoring is one way to figure out if anyone at your company has had their credentials stolen and possibly sold on the sub-internet. With the right tools, you can scan the unindexed internet, including private sites, botnets, black market sites, social media, internet relay chat (IRC) channels, hidden chatrooms, and peer-to-peer networks.
For more information about the Dark Web and monitoring solutions, feel free to contact our expert team by calling 877-599-3999 or emailing sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
