The concept of dark web threat detection is about as understandable as quantum physics to someone who knows nothing about cybersecurity. Therefore, working to convince company owners and managers that they need it can be challenging. Nonetheless, dark web threat detection plays a crucial role in proactive cybersecurity.
Organizations like DarkOwl offer the service across a variety of industries including financial services and healthcare. They say dark web threat detection’s contributions to modern business cybersecurity go far beyond what most people understand. Fortunately, it is easy enough to illustrate with five practical examples of the practice being employed in a contemporary business environment.
1. Identifying Exposed Credentials
Dark web threat detection is deployed through continuous monitoring across the dark web and adjacent sites. By continually scanning the vast space that is the dark web, intelligence experts can identify exposed credentials. They can uncover incidents of employee credentials being sold and distributed across the dark web.
Once stolen credentials are exposed, action can be taken to mitigate the negative impacts of the breach. Strategies include comprehensive security audits and forced password resets at the user level.
2. Mitigating Ransomware
Ransomware is one of the most utilized cyber threats in the 2020s. There are two potential issues associated with it from a threat detection standpoint:
- Pending Attacks – Monitoring the dark web can uncover information indicating that a ransomware attack is pending. This gives a target the opportunity to be proactive and, hopefully, prevent the attack from occurring.
- Data Dumping – If a target refuses to pay a ransom once a successful ransomware attack has been launched, it is possible that the threat actor will dump the target’s data on a dark website for distribution. Monitoring identifies such data dumps.
As damaging as ransomware attacks can be, this one issue alone is serious motivation to deploy continual dark web monitoring.
3. Dark Web Threat Detection and Insider Threats
Sometimes, the practice of dark web threat detection reveals insider threats that could severely cripple an organization. Insider threats are identified by tracking communications and activities that indicate an employee or partner might be involved in some sort of malicious activity. Early detection gives organizations an opportunity to respond before threats become reality.
4. Threat Detection and Sensitive Information
Dark web threats do not always come in the form of stolen credentials or ransomware attacks. Threats can also be in the form of sensitive company or customer data being sold on dark web marketplaces. Regular monitoring and threat detection allows for informing businesses, in real time, when sensitive data appears on the dark web.
Real-time alerts are crucial to this particular issue because organizations rely on them to safeguard their IT systems by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. The earlier a warning arrives, the more helpful it is.
5. Threat Detection and Response
The last item on the list is threat detection and response. In any form of cyber threat, early detection gives organizations an advantage over threat actors. Dark web threat detection provides that early warning. But it also provides a basis for effective incident response. By identifying the details of each particular threat, companies can formulate incident response policies designed to minimize the impact of any future breaches.
DarkOwl reminds organizations the threat actors are not going to give up and find another line of work. They will continue launching their attacks and gathering the spoil that comes as a result. Organizations need to fight back, continually and as effectively as possible. Dark web threat detection is an excellent tool for doing so. It should be part of every organization’s cybersecurity arsenal.
