THE DARK WEB CHALLENGE

THE DARK WEB AND YOUR DATA

Here’s some food for thought on data breaches and the Dark Web. In 2020, 737,000,000 files containing data were breached in the United States alone. Yes, that’s 737 million files containing business-critical data or sensitive personal information such as email addresses, banking credentials, and social media accounts. The FBI also reported a 400% increase in cybercrime incidents, largely due to illicit Dark Web hacking on unsuspecting individuals working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. Before we take on the Dark Web challenge, let’s discover a bit more…

WHAT IS THE DARK WEB?

The Dark Web was conceived as an incognito communication platform for the US government in the 1990s. Since its inception, it has gone on to become a haven for extremism, whistleblowing, illegal drugs, fraud, and much more. It cannot be accessed by regular browsers such as Chrome, makes up only a fraction of the total files on the internet but is nevertheless lethal. Unless users are vigilant, they stand to lose their data from keylogging, botnet and phishing malware, and ransomware that are all rampant on the Dark Web.

A HIDING PLACE FOR CRIMINALS

Finding out that your data has been breached is the easy part. However, retrieving and removing information from the Dark Web can be almost impossible. It’s the perfect place for cybercriminals to hide: IP addresses are hidden and changed, browsing data is encrypted, and payments are made with untraceable bitcoins.

THE DIGITAL PANDEMIC

Some say that last year’s pilferage of data constitutes a digital pandemic. While some hackers simply want to put their skills to the test and see if they can break into business networks or penetrate an individual computer, most are after one thing – money that makes the world go round! The 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report revealed that in 2020, 86% of the data breaches were for earmarked financial gain – up from 71% in 2019. Over 67% of breaches can be attributed to credential theft and social attacks such as phishing and business email compromises with:

  • 37% using stolen or weak credentials
  • 25% involving phishing
  • 22% caused by human error

Clearly then, part of this challenge is using strong passwords and impenetrable credentials, to avoid phishing, and to stop human error in its tracks.

TOGETHER WE WILL BEAT IT

Once your data is compromised and on the Dark Web, you may not be able to get it back. So how do you beat it? This is where I will help you with the challenge. Together we can:

  • ensure that you and your employees are using strong credentials that cannot be compromised
  • identify and eradicate scam and phishing email
  • make human error a thing of the past through rigorous training
  • apply cybersecurity measures that offer complete projection of your network and data

Together we will beat the Dark Web and your data will never be lost or breached.

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