What Is The Dark Web?

What Is The Dark Web?

If your data has been stolen, cybercriminals could be selling it at a nice profit on the Dark Web right now. Tektonic can help you find out – all you have to do is ask.

Cybercrime is a big part of the news these days. You hear about data breaches, identity theft, and more on a seemingly daily basis.

Maybe it’s got you wondering — all these cybercriminals are using people’s SSNs, credit card numbers, passwords and other private info… Where do they get it all from?

The truth is that there’s a complex economy of supply and demand in the cybercriminal world. Some hackers steal information to sell, and others buy it to use.

Where does it all happen? On the Dark Web. Discover more in our latest video:

What Is The Dark Web?

The Dark Web is like the black market of the Internet, which isn’t indexed by search engines. If your personal or business data has been stolen and is being sold, that’s where it’ll be. This could include login info, credit card numbers, or other data.

The dark web is a small part of the much larger “deep web” – the common name for an extensive collection of websites that aren’t accessible through normal Internet browsers. These websites are hidden from the everyday Internet — or Clearnet — users through the use of overlay networks.

How Does Your Data End Up On The Dark Web?

Before your data can be sold online, cybercriminals have to steal the data first. To do so, they use a number of different methods to get your info from you:

• Phishing: Phishing emails are sent to large numbers of users simultaneously in an attempt to “fish” sensitive information by posing as reputable sources; often with legitimate-looking logos attached.
• Executive Whaling: The bad guys target top executives and administrators, typically to siphon off money from accounts or steal confidential data.
• Online Research: LinkedIn, Facebook, and other venues provide a wealth of information about organizational personnel. This can include their contact information, connections, friends, ongoing business deals, and more.

3 Ways To Keep Your Data Off The Dark Web

Ideally, you won’t have to worry about your private data being sold for profit because cyber criminals can’t steal it in the first place.

Follow these three best practices to maintain effective data security:

• Protect Your Logins: You need to have processes in place to make sure strong passwords are being used at work, and identities are being verified during the login process. It’s advisable that you assign strong passwords to each individual employee to prevent them from using passwords that are easy to guess, as well as implementing two-factor authorization.
• Careful What You Share Online: Think about the security questions you have protecting your email account – are the answers to them available on your public Facebook account? If someone only needs to know your mother’s maiden name or the year you graduated high school in order to hack your account, then it’s not very secure, is it? Make sure you don’t overshare online and make sure you choose security questions that only you have the answer to.
• Train Your Staff In Cybersecurity Best Practices: Train staff members on the proper handling of corporate data and procedures to limit data loss, including ways to handle phishing scams. Besides an initial onboarding training session, all employees should attend refresher courses throughout the year. The vast majority of cybercriminals gain access to a company’s network through mistakes made by employees.

How Much Of Your Data Is On The Dark Web Already?

Unfortunately, all these tips are meant to be preventative – they’ll increase your security and protect against cyber criminals taking your data in the first place.

But what if you’ve already experienced a breach?

It can be difficult for the average user to access the dark web and find the right sites to see if your info is for sale. After all, there’s no Google for that part of the Internet.

That’s why you need the right help, and the right technology to figure out if your data is for sale…

Tektonic Will Find Your Data On The Dark Web

There’s only so much you can do on your own, but there are now more direct ways of checking whether your data has been compromised on the dark web. Many security vendors now offer cyber-surveillance monitoring solutions that can scan the dark web for your credentials.

Allow us to help — our dark web scanning solution will keep tabs on the shadiest corners of the online world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If your data shows up there, we will know.

Get in touch with the Tektonic team to discover more about Dark Web scanning. We’ll check the dark web for you to make sure your personal information and business data aren’t being sold to cybercriminals.