Why Does My Business Need Dark Web Monitoring?

Why Does My Business Need Dark Web Monitoring?

The Dark Web is an invisible and hidden part of the Web that provides a breeding ground for criminal activities worldwide. It’s not used just for selling illegal drugs and weapons, but for selling your stolen business and client data.

The Dark Web doesn’t pose a direct threat to your business like phishing and ransomware does, you may not consider it important to add this to your security strategy. Whether you know this or not, the Dark Web is a major threat. It’s like a covert operation that threatens to expose your company secrets and damage your reputation beyond repair.

The Dark Web is an invisible and hidden part of the Web that provides a breeding ground for criminal activities worldwide. It’s not used just for selling illegal drugs and weapons, but for selling your stolen business and client data.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI) are at risk.

Thieves steal and sell databases, credit card information, financial transactions, leaked emails, user logins and credentials, and company secrets that can financially harm your business. They profit after committing theft through phishing attacks or by using compromised employee login credentials.

They use the Dark Web to do this.

The Dark Web Is Considered A Major Threat According To The U.S. Government

The moment the Feds shut down two sites, it seems that four more spring into use.

“The Darknet is ever-changing and increasingly more intricate, making locating and targeting those selling illicit items on this platform more complicated,” Derek Benner, executive associate director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), said in a statement.

The Feds are serious about Dark Web Monitoring. On Tuesday, June 26, 2018, a bill passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee calling on the White House to develop a publicly available list of advanced persistent threat groups named by the U.S. government. The bill is called the Cyber Deterrence and Response Act of 2018.

Is My Small Business A Target?

The definitive answer is “Yes.”

It’s not just big businesses that are targets – cybercriminals look for businesses like yours because you probably have fewer IT security resources in place than your larger counterparts.

Large corporations spend hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of dollars on cybersecurity.

But many small business owners aren’t spending enough or paying attention to these threats. Hackers know this, so they’ll put businesses like yours in their bull’s eye.

And they know that you’re less likely to detect a breach, so you’re not likely to detect the sale of stolen information on the Dark Web. This makes your small business a prime target.

So, What Does Dark Web Monitoring Do?

Dark web monitoring is an identity theft prevention product that lets you monitor your confidential business information on the Dark Web and receive notifications if it’s found online.

You’ll be in control of the information you want to be monitored. You’ll receive alerts via email if any of this information is found on the Dark Web. Your service will let you know any next steps you should take if this happens.

How Will It Benefit My Business?

Businesses of any size can benefit from complete security and protection through intelligence. But the right strategies must be put into place to fight all types of threats.

With Dark Web Monitoring, you’ll have 24/7 surveillance to make sure that your company is 100% safe.

Dark Web Monitoring:

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o   Reduces the amount of time between the occurrence of a data breach and you find out about it.

o   Shrinks the window of opportunity criminals have to make copies of your data and sell it.

o   Prevents the threat of your company’s confidential data leaving your perimeter without you knowing it’s gone.

o   Keeps your clients, employees, key executives, and high-profile personnel from being exploited on the Dark Web.

Monitoring of the Dark Web will locate instances of sensitive data or signs of an attack related to your business or brand, your key assets, private information, and consumer data.

What Should I Look For In A Dark Web Monitoring Service?

There are many Dark Web Monitoring Services out there. To help, here are some of the key characteristics you should look for in a solution:

·        Dark Web Threat Alerts –You’ll benefit from proactive monitoring for your stolen or compromised data. It provides you with real-time alerts when data is found on the Dark Web.

·        Compromised Data Tracking & Reporting – This service tracks and triages incidents and manages risks with logging and reporting.

·        Compromised Data Trending & Benchmarking – You’ll gain insights into your current threat posture and be able to benchmark it against your peers and the industry you serve.

·        Supply Chain Threat Monitoring – Now you can monitor your third-party vendors to determine if they are a potential risk to your organization. This is important for businesses in healthcare, law, and others that must comply with industry and government regulations.

·        client Management – You can better secure your clients by providing them the actionable intelligence to help protect against potential data breaches.

The right Dark Web Monitoring will also provide a $1,000,000 identity theft restoration policy, and proactively protect your employees and clients while enhancing their overall cybersecurity awareness.

Data breaches are likely to continue. In the meantime, you should take action to prevent your business from financial or reputational damage. Signing up for a Dark Web Monitoring Service is one way you can do this.

See Threats Before It’s Too Late!

See Threats Before It’s Too Late

In an increasingly unpredictable threat environment, security breaches are becoming harder and harder to detect. Malware, backdoors, and data loss routinely go unnoticed for months, and in some cases years at a time. When the breach is finally discovered, it is usually reported by an external party and rarely through an internal review.

What Are Network Blind Spots and How Are They Exploited?

Organizations are struggling to identify threats in a timely and actionable way in large part because they lack the necessary visibility into their environment needed to detect malicious actions. According to a recent report by SANS Institute, while 97% of organizations collect logs, only 44% of these organizations review their logs regularly and only 14% feel confident in their ability to accurately analyze large data sets for security trends.

• BYOD. The continued adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies adds to this challenge by introducing hordes of unknown mobile devices to your wireless networks. Personal laptops and mobile devices rarely have the same strong endpoint protection that is required at the corporate level. When an employee connects their personal device to your network, it is a risk to the entire company.
• Shadow IT. Meanwhile, well-intentioned employees may have installed their own server applications or software, such as a webserver, without approval from IT. That employee most likely will not follow best practices in patching regularly to maintain protection against vulnerability exploits.
• Rogue Wireless Hotspots. Employees may also install unauthorized wireless access points to provide more convenient network access in their office. These rogue access points could allow outsiders to more easily attack your protected network, without even stepping foot inside your building. In more serious attacks, the criminal may install their own rogue access point to maintain access after a physical intrusion.
• Botnets. In other attacks, botnets may have installed software that is calling home to the Command and Control server using your network. This Command and Control traffic is often disguised as normal web browsing traffic and can be difficult to detect.

So What Can You Do to Close Network Blind Spots?

Visibility into your network is critical for identifying hidden threats. At a minimum, administrators should establish a baseline of normal network activity and investigate any major deviations from this baseline. WatchGuard Dimension provides this visibility into all network activity with detailed reports and easily reviewed dashboards, allowing IT staff to quickly identify emerging threats.

The WatchGuard Network Discovery service is another important tool for illuminating network blind spots. The Network Discovery server, available on all current WatchGuard Firebox models running version 11.11 of the Fireware Operating System or higher, scans and maps currently connected devices and monitors for new endpoint connections.