How to Automate Supply Chain Risk Reports: A Guide for Developers
Do you use Python? If so, this guide will help you automate supply chain risk reports using AI Chat GPT and our News API.
While Google might seem to be infinite, in reality, what search engines see only represents around 4% of the web, while the remaining 96% remains non-indexed. This non-indexed section of the web is referred to as the deep web, while an even smaller section of the deep web is the dark web or darknet. A lot of non-indexed sites on the deep and dark web are legitimate pages that don’t show up on search engines for different reasons. However, the dark web still attracts all kinds of malicious actors as they covertly communicate and trade, and look to exploit sensitive information, which is why organizations of all types and sizes are increasingly turning to dark web monitoring to protect their sensitive data.
In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of dark web monitoring and provide an overview of how it works. We’ll also look at some tools and strategies used to monitor activity and potential threats and share some tips on choosing the best dark web monitoring solution for your organization.
Dark web monitoring is the process of searching or investigating the dark web to detect illegal activity and potential security threats that pose a risk to a company or individual. This process is an essential part of protecting organizations from emerging external threats that could cause damage, such as fraud, identity theft, or a cyber attack so that companies can take steps to respond and protest themselves ahead of an attack. Dark web monitoring involves scanning the dark web for data such as stolen login details, sensitive company information, CVEs, 0 days, or financial data.
There are many reasons organizations monitor the dark web. A business might want to protect its customers from cybercrime, while a government agency might want to detect a sensitive information leak. It’s not always organizations themselves monitoring for threats, but outsourced solutions such as a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) are constantly scanning both the open, deep, and dark web to gather data on potential vulnerabilities for their customers.
Before we take a closer look at specific threats, understanding the consequences will help you appreciate the importance of dark web monitoring, such as:
With the severity of these consequences, it’s essential to constantly scan the dark web for data related to your organization and industry to remain up-to-date on malicious activity, such as your data being shared or sold. Scanning the dark web for your organization’s data or data from your staff, customers, or third parties as well as general trends in security vulnerabilities in your industry allows you to take proactive steps to protect your systems, business, and assets from threats or create strategies to handle breaches.
As a layer of the internet that’s not indexed, the dark web is home to illicit and illegal activities, posing a threat to businesses, organizations, and government agencies. To better understand the dangers that lurk on the dark web, here’s a look at some of the main threats organizations face:
When an unauthorized user gains access to an organization’s system, they can steal or manipulate private information. On the dark web, hackers will buy and sell this data in order to attack an organization, steal identities, or launch a DDoS attack like pro-Russian hackers, Killnet did on Romanian government websites. Dark web monitoring can help detect the early stages of a data breach, affording organizations enough time to respond.
When confidential data is exposed to the public, it can be very damaging to an organization’s reputation and can even result in legal trouble. When the organization is a government agency, the ramifications could be potentially life-threatening. For example, when Wikileaks published sensitive government documents, it was considered a threat to national and diplomatic security. Organizations can detect these vulnerabilities and respond to data leaks quickly through dark web monitoring in order to reduce the risk of private data falling into the wrong hands.
Both malware attacks and phishing are attempts by a bad actor to gain access to confidential information. Malware is used to steal sensitive data or disrupt operations, while phishing attacks often take a more discreet approach by sending emails or texts that appear legitimate to steal information. In both cases, financial and operational consequences can be severe.
Hackers can use the dark web to launch attacks on an organization’s reputation by spreading false information or creating fake accounts. With the help of dark web monitoring, organizations can look for threats against their brand before any damage occurs.
In some cases, an organization’s employee might share sensitive data on the dark web for personal gain or other reasons, as is suspected with the Yandex leak. In government entities, this type of internal threat can lead to geopolitical risk where a foreign agent or government targets another with cyberattacks. While often tricky to detect, by consistently monitoring the dark web, organizations can mitigate these serious risks.
With threats coming from different directions, organizations need multiple tools to keep tabs on what’s shared on the dark web. Some of these tools include:
Monitoring the dark web isn’t a simple task. Not only do you need specific tools to access hidden or restricted areas, but pages on the dark web are constantly in flux and get taken up or go back live without warning. This is what happened when Dread disappeared from the darknet in 2022, much to the shock of its administrators and users, only to reappear a few months later.
Monitoring these types of pages is not only laborious but can also be expensive. Companies need to assess whether or not they have the budget and technology to create their own in-house monitoring solution, which requires powerful algorithms and a steady stream of data, or turn to a dark web monitoring platform.
There isn’t just one way to monitor the dark web. Some solutions will focus on one type of tool, while others will use a mix of multiple methods to bring you the most accurate results. How a solution combats the dark web is another aspect to consider when selecting a monitoring service or solution. Some ways to monitor the dark web include:
There’s no denying the benefits of dark and deep web monitoring for your organization as a way to ensure the safety of your assets, including sensitive data and information. Dark web monitoring can help you preempt potential attacks before they become active threats, or help you manage compromised assets in the event of an attack or data breach. All this helps you protect your organization and others by ensuring a potential risk doesn’t jeopardize its entire future while also helping you build and maintain trust with your clients, which, once lost, is difficult to win back.
If you’re looking for new dark web monitoring solutions, talk to an expert at webz.io. We can help provide you with high-quality dark web data feeds to inform your monitoring solution or help your analysts monitor the dark web.
Do you use Python? If so, this guide will help you automate supply chain risk reports using AI Chat GPT and our News API.
Use this guide to learn how to easily automate supply chain risk reports with Chat GPT and news data.
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