As with any business activity, cybercriminals are engaged in marketing and reducing the operational costs of their ill-intended activities. The dark web is where it all happens, and freelancing is the new modus operandi. Hence, a report from Deloitte shows that attack campaigns are getting increasingly cheap for cybercriminals. The best IT services providers can help you prepare for and minimize your surface of attack from the dark web.
What is the Dark Web?
First, there is the "indexed web" or "surface web," which everyone knows and uses daily, representing only 4% of the web. Deeper, the "deep web" is not indexed by search engines; to reach it, one must have addresses or invitations.
Finally, totally cryptic, the "dark web" is a parallel, anonymous and unattended world that can only be accessed by software, particularly Tor software, a kind of gateway allowing people to go from the surface web to the dark web. The IP addresses of shady web players are masked, and their movements difficult to track, which allows them to remain underground while operating in complete peace of mind.
What Can You Find on the Dark Web?
You will come across fraudsters and hackers who resell stolen data using phishing attacks and malicious programs (malware). In addition, you will find different players providing different types of products and services. In the dark web's freelance economy, many threat actors can easily and cheaply access the services of villainous mavericks to carry out sophisticated attacks against your business.
Hacking tutorials are sold here, and some ransomware kits are even provided for free. Of course, the authors take a percentage of the profits with the latter, so the initial stake for attackers is zero. This "market" explains the rise of sophisticated cyber-attacks that far exceed the defense capabilities of the target organizations. Therefore, it is way cheaper for attackers to execute their threats.
How Can Companies Protect Themselves?
Many businesses have strategies focused on monitoring and combating malicious behavior on the surface web. However, the number of cyber-attacks emanating from the dark web continues to grow.
Knowing what is happening in these depths is now just as important, if not more, than monitoring the surface, especially when we know that fraudsters are trying by all means to escape the detection solutions put in place.
Malicious actors use the dark web to exchange information about planned attacks. Therefore, it is essential for companies to benefit from near real-time visibility into these grey areas to take the necessary measures to protect their resources and activities.
Eventually, cybercriminals will exploit any weakness in your network or exposed the data of your business. Keep your security system comprehensively updated if you want to combat these attacks.
Also, an attack like phishing depends on your employees to overlook it for it to be effective. Your business will remain safe from these efforts if you train your teams to recognize and mitigate these threats. And IT services experts can help you with that.
Ultimately, you and your team need to follow all best practices to protect your business from cybercriminals. That effectively reduces opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit.
At Vitalpoints, we have an experienced IT services team ready to help your business with security matters. To learn more, contact us now!