What is the DarkWeb?
The DarkWeb is as bad as it sounds. It’s a part of the internet that is not accessible by normal means i.e. standard browsers and search engines. You need specific software to access it as it enables the users to be kept anonymous – information cannot be traced back to the people using it. It’s used for a wide range of activities – although some of them are fair and legal (sometimes used by law enforcement), most of them are highly illegal.
Your common internet user can access what is known as the ‘Surface Web’ using browsers such as Microsoft Edge or Safari for your typical .com and .net sites etc as they are indexed by the search engines looking for them i.e., google.
The DarkWeb and DeepWeb together make up 96% of the internet and consist of sites and databases that are not public. It’s commonly given the iceberg analogy – we the public only see the surface of the web however the internet is so much more than that.
How do they do this & what do they do with my information?
Have you ever received an email that implies or states your passwords have been compromised? It’s falling for phishing emails like these which let the cybercriminals into your systems and access your private data – personal or business. This isn’t the only way they get your data – ransomware attacks, malware, keyloggers – they all record your passwords, usernames, sensitive data. Once the cybercriminal have them, they can put them up for sale on the Dark Web for anyone to buy – for the right price. From there, they can perform pretty much any cyber transaction posing as you – this is known as identity fraud.
What can you do to protect yourself now?
There are tools available out there to help protect your data. Firstly, you can install a password manager to randomly generate and manage individual unique passwords. Your password manager will generate unique passwords for each account and save it for you. This way, if hackers get one password, they won’t be able to access other accounts you may have used a common password for. It’s important to protect this service with a secure passphrase and multi-factor authentication.
A great tool to compliment this is a DarkWeb monitoring service. This can scan the DarkWeb for your credentials and alert you if it finds something – this way you know to change your password (or details) immediately. Businesses can use it to scan for anything containing their email domains – @mybusiness.com.au .
ONGC provide a DarkWeb ID scanning service which will do as stated above. If you have any concerns about your company’s security, would like further information or were victim to any previous incidents that you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We will be more than happy to have a chat and set up a meeting to discuss signing up for the scanning service or a security review – have you had one in the last 12 months?
Get in contact today, we’re happy to help!