Cyber security has been at the forefront of our conversations with most of our partners over the last 12 months.
In a previous blog post, we discussed how the pandemic has forced a shift in how organisations work, with digital transformation hitting new highs. But, as with any sort of change, problems are never too far behind and threats to your business now go way beyond the four walls of wherever you’re based.
2020 was a record-breaking year for cyber crime and 2021 already looks on course to eclipse it, with hacks, breaches and scams taking place every few seconds. However, one threat source has steadily emerged as something to be wary of – the dark web.
The dark web is a part of the internet that isn’t visible to search engines and often thought of as an anonymous hotbed of criminal activity. It’s estimated that it makes up somewhere between 90-99% of the whole internet, with most of the websites on there being used for illegal purposes.
In fact, according to a recent article on ZDNet, it was claimed that "there is not anyone that is on the dark web for a lawful reason, except police".
Users on the dark web can buy anything from credit card numbers, drugs or guns, all the way through to counterfeit money, stolen subscription credentials, hacked social media accounts and software that helps you break into other people’s computers.
In a 2019 study, Into the Web of Profit, conducted by Dr. Michael McGuires at the University of Surrey, he found that of all listings (excluding those selling drugs), 60% of all sites on the dark web had the potential to harm enterprises.
Your credentials could be sat on the dark web, as you’re reading this, with no inclination of a breach having ever taken place.
In the vast majority of cases, breaches take place on third-party websites that employees in your organisation have created an account on. This can range from business-critical applications to social media platforms, such as LinkedIn.
Often, they’re signing up with their work email addresses and the same, or a very similar, variation of the password they use to log in to their work account every day. Once the third-party website is breached, cyber criminals will sell your credentials on the dark web for, on average, a little over £10.
All it takes is one employee to potentially give away the keys to your entire network.
You can use the free tool, ‘haveibeenpwned.com’, if you’re concerned about a breach of your personal email account, however when it comes to professional accounts, we go into the dark web so you don’t have to.
Our system operates 24/7/365, diving into hidden chat rooms, peer-to-peer networks, over 640,000+ other sources to check for your details. If you appear at any time, we send a notification to you and urge you to change your password.
Over 15 trillion credentials are currently for sale on the dark web, don’t wonder if you’re one of those.
Get in touch with us today and we’ll run a free dark web report for your company domain.
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