Effective cybersecurity in the 2020s requires taking advantage of every possible tool and strategy. Dark web monitoring is one such tool. It is utilized by companies serving consumers across the globe. But it is also a good tool for government agencies, cyber insurance providers, large enterprises, and cybersecurity companies.
But what is it, exactly? More importantly, how does it differ from other cybersecurity measures? Understanding the depth, breadth, and width of dark web monitoring makes abundantly clear why the tool is so important to protecting global networks.
Paying Attention to the Other Web
In the simplest possible terms, dark web monitoring essentially pays attention to the ‘other’ web. The dark web, also known as the darknet, is a section of the World Wide Web that is not accessible through traditional means. It is the digital home to all sorts of nefarious activities that represent genuine cybersecurity threats.
Monitoring the dark web allows cybersecurity experts, government agencies, and other entities to stay abreast of what is happening in the shadowy world hidden by proxies and VPNs. It goes beyond traditional threat monitoring to actually get into the enemy’s online backyard.
Dark Web Monitoring Is Proactive
DarkOwl is a company specializing in dark web monitoring and intelligence. Their approach to cybersecurity typifies one of the biggest differences between dark web monitoring and traditional cybersecurity measures. In short, their approach is proactive.
Traditional cybersecurity measures are usually a combination of proactive and reactive strategies. For example, both network detection and response (NDR) and extended detection and response (XDR) are designed to be proactive. However zero trust network access (ZTNA) is a reactive strategy.
Dark web monitoring is exclusively proactive. Security experts purposely dive into the dark net and dig around. They pay attention to what threat actors are doing so as to detect possible threats before they are ever launched.
The Scope Is Much Larger
Dark web monitoring is also different in terms of scope. Compared to more traditional cybersecurity measures, its scope is much larger and broader. By its nature, it needs to be.
Experts monitor the dark web wherever they find it. They are routinely on the hunt to identify and track questionable activities in hidden parts of the internet. They look for everything from stolen credentials to new threats still in development.
By contrast, traditional cybersecurity measures tend to focus on an organization’s networks and systems. An American enterprise will not monitor the networks of other organizations in Europe. While such internal monitoring is necessary, it doesn’t always give early warning of emerging threats to the same extent dark web monitoring does.
Specific Threats Are Targeted
Traditional cybersecurity measures are more broad in terms of threat detection. Cybersecurity teams monitor unauthorized access, data leaks, lateral attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, etc. However, dark web monitoring is more specific in its targeted activities.
Organizations employing dark web monitoring are focused primarily on four things:
- Compromise credentials – Compromised credentials give hackers access to a variety of websites and online accounts. Such credentials are frequently for sale on the dark web. Finding them creates a huge red flag.
- Leaked/stolen data – Like stolen credentials, leaked and stolen data can be found across the dark web. Criminals steal the data and then sell it to the highest bidder. It could be anything from business data to sensitive government information.
- Intellectual property – Some threat actors steal intellectual property and sell it on the dark web. Still, others might steal it on behalf of nation-states looking to up their game in global economic competitiveness.
- Potential attacks – The dark web is where threat actors develop their cyberattacks. Dark web monitoring is designed to uncover discussions that can reveal what threat actors are planning. In a sense, dark web monitoring is spying on the enemy.
It is possible for traditional cybersecurity measures to uncover these types of threats before they are launched. But that is not the norm. More often than not, data leaks and stolen credentials don’t become apparent until it’s too late. Therefore, a more proactive approach through dark web monitoring makes more sense.
Intelligence Gathering Is the Goal
It should be clear from what has been discussed thus far that dark web monitoring’s primary goal is intelligence gathering. In traditional cybersecurity, organizations are looking for threats as they unfold. They are looking to stop threats from penetrating their networks. But with dark web monitoring, the idea is to prepare an organization for threats long before they are ever launched.
Dark web monitoring is geared toward providing valuable threat intelligence based on analyzing activity and communication within the darknet. With such capabilities, it can inform broader cybersecurity strategies that help organizations stay ahead of emerging threats.
It’s not all that different from running reconnaissance operations in modern warfare. Reconnaissance is designed to figure out what the enemy is doing before they do it. Likewise, dark web monitoring is digital recon for cybersecurity.
Dark Web Monitoring Utilizes Specialized Tools
Perhaps the most glaring difference between dark web monitoring and traditional cybersecurity is the specialized tools experts employ. For example, taking advantage of anonymizing networks, like the Tor network, is pretty typical. Monitoring teams leverage invitation only-forms and marketplaces, encrypted communication analysis, and other tools traditional cybersecurity has no use for.
From the practitioner’s standpoint, successful monitoring also requires a thorough understanding of darknet jargon and the actual tradecraft of cybercrime. The most effective organizations employ staff members who are experts in how the dark web operates.
A More Advanced Strategy
There are several additional differences between dark web monitoring and traditional cybersecurity. Without getting into them, here is the point: dark web monitoring is a more advanced strategy designed to keep organizations several steps ahead of threat actors.
It is an important tool made necessary by the fact that cyber threats are constantly evolving. Without the intelligence data it provides, both organizations and individuals would be at a severe disadvantage. And that’s not an option.