I’ve been asked about the darknet / dark web by customers and family. What exactly is it and is it something my organization or me personally should be worried about? My buddy Aamir is one of a few experts that gave their thoughts on a post found at TechTarget.com. That post can be found HERE. It is a very good summary of the current state of the dark web.
To summarize that article, the dark web is not part of the regular Internet. There are essentially three types of “Internets”. You have the open Internet you access using browsers and search engines (one you are using now), there is the deep web that is not indexed hence you have to know how to find those resources to access them and finally, the dark web, which requires special software to access such as Tor. You can’t use Firefox or Chrome to access a dark web resource. You need the correct software. If you plan to do this, keep in mind there is a much higher risk a website is malicious hence make sure your computer is secured according to industry standards for host security. I wrote about accessing the dark web HERE.
The darknet / dark web is mostly used for illegal activities however, services like hit men or torture are hoaxes and just don’t exist anymore like you see in the movies. Products that can be purchased using bitcoin and easily mailed such as drugs or illegal software sales such as malware is real. There are a ton more people using the dark web than in the past so initial conversations will take place on the dark web but cyber criminal use other communication channels to conduct business such as discord. For this reason, the dark web is actually becoming much less relevant as a security threat.
Why should you care? The dark web sells stolen data and there are services available for monitoring for your data being sold. Many security vendors are adding dark web monitoring services based on this threat. The reality is the dark web is not being used as much as it use to by cyber criminals hence it should not be your only focus for monitoring for stolen data. You should consider the dark web as a threat, however there are many other places cyber crime takes place.
To read the full article on the dark web, go HERE. Registration is required to read but there isn’t a cost. Be safe and COVID free.