Every day cybercriminals look for ways to gain access to private data. While there are many ways cyber attacks can happen, we sometimes forget that valuable credential information can be sold and purchased. When credentials become compromised they can appear on the dark web, available for any bad actors looking for business information. The good news is there are ways to stay vigilant, even if an account has been compromised.
What is the dark web?
The dark web is a part of the internet that you can't access by regular browsers or search engines. On the dark web you can access a number of sites selling a variety of things from prepaid debit cards to stolen account credentials and beyond. While not everything or everyone operating on the dark web is malicious, it is a place for hackers and cybercriminals to communicate and sell data anonymously.
How to find out if your accounts are compromised
As a single person, or even a small team, it would be extremely difficult to comb the dark web for any hint of specific compromised credentials. There are, however, tools that can do this for you. We at Tech Networks employ one of these tools, which regularly monitor the dark web for instances of specific domains (like our own) and will send us an alert if compromised data is found. It can even tell us what information has been found, like an address or a specific password. This allows us to take swift action to protect accounts and prevent further breaches.
Staying protected
The best plan to keep your data safe is to be proactive and remain vigilant. Employing security tools like spam filters, anti virus and antimalware, and having strong security policies in place may seem like the bare minimum but can actually do a lot in the effort to prevent cyber attacks. Beyond that, you should have an IT team who is prepared to act swiftly if an incident occurs to minimize any potential down time and recover any lost data. Employing a dark web monitoring tool can help you stay ahead of potential attacks and respond to compromised credentials appropriately.
It can be scary to think about cyber criminals gathering and selling your private information online, and it may seem like there's no way to stop them. Dark web monitoring is only one part of a robust cybersecurity strategy, and it can help your organization stay safe from major breaches. Tech Networks of Boston has 28 years of experience helping nonprofits remain safe in a digital world. If you have questions about dark web monitoring, password policies, or other aspects of cybersecurity, please contact us.
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