Dark Web Facts

If you know anything about the dark web, then you know having your information published there is bad news. What exactly is the dark web, and how does your information end up there? What should you do when you find out your info is on the dark web?

WHAT IS THE DARK WEB?

The dark web is the “hidden” part of the Internet that’s not accessible through a regular web browser. The content on the dark web is encrypted and requires special authorization to access. The most common way to surf the dark web is through Tor, a tool which hides IP addresses and locations. 

Because the dark web is anonymous, it’s home to a lot of shady or illegal activities — drug deals, arms sales, and worse. The dark web is also the ideal place for criminals to buy and sell identity information, such as credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, medical records, passports, and email addresses. Experian estimates that a SSN can go for $1, a diploma for $400, and a U.S. passport for $1000.

DARK WEB OR DEEP WEB? 

You may have also heard of the deep web, and it’s important to distinguish it from the dark web. The deep web isn’t sinister, it’s just the part of the Internet that doesn’t get indexed by search engines. Pages that require sign-in or authentication, like online banking dashboards or your Amazon shopping cart are part of the deep web. Experts estimate that the deep web makes up 90% of the Internet.

HOW DOES T3 TECHNOLOGIES’ DARK WEB ID HELP PROTECT MY ORGANIZATION?

Our service is designed to help both public and private sector organizations detect and mitigate cyber threats that leverage stolen email addresses and passwords. T3 Technologies’ Dark Web ID leverages a combination of human and artificial intelligence that scours botnets, criminal chat rooms, blogs, Websites and bulletin boards, Peer to Peer networks, forums, private networks, and other black- market sites 24/7, 365 days a year to identify stolen credentials and other personally identifiable information (PII).

HOW ARE THE STOLEN OR EXPOSED CREDENTIALS FOUND ON THE DARK WEB?

T3 Technologies’ Dark Web ID focuses on cyber threats that are specific to our clients’ environments. We monitor the Dark Web and the criminal hacker underground for exposure of our clients’ credentials to malicious individuals.

We accomplish this by looking specifically for our clients’ top level email domains. When a credential is identified, we harvest it. While we harvest data from typical hacker sites like Pastebin, a lot of our data originates from sites that require credibility or a membership within the hacker community to enter. To that end, we monitor over 500 distinct Internet relay chatroom (IRC) channels, 600,000 private Websites, 600 twitter feeds, and execute 10,000 refined queries daily.

DOES THE IDENTIFICATION OF MY ORGANIZATION’S EXPOSED CREDENTIALS MEAN WE ARE BEING TARGETED BY HACKERS?

While we can’t say definitively that the data, we’ve discovered has already been used to exploit your organization, the fact that we are able to identify this data should be very concerning. Organizations should consult their T3 Technologies’ security team to determine if they have suffered a cyber incident or data breach.

IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS FOUND ON THE DARK WEB, CAN IT BE REMOVED?

Once the data is posted for sale within the Dark Web, it is quickly copied and distributed (re-sold or traded) to a large number of cyber criminals, within a short period of time. It is generally implausible to remove data that has been disseminated within the Dark Web. Individuals whose PII has been discovered on the Dark Web are encouraged to enroll in an identity and credit monitoring service immediately. 

ARE THERE ANY SPECIAL CREDENTIALS NEEDED TO INVESTIGATE THE DARK WEB?

You do not need special permission to access the Dark Web. However, accessing the Dark Web requires the use of a “TOR” browser and should only be done using a VPN/10042017 encrypted tunnel. In general, we advise against attempting to access the Dark Web.