Dark web monitoring: what it can and can't tell you

What is dark web monitoring and why is it important?

If you have ever had a credit card company call you about a suspicious charge, you have experienced a form of dark web monitoring. For a business, dark web monitoring is a service that scans the hidden corners of the internet where hackers buy and sell stolen data. This includes forums, chat rooms, and private marketplaces that are not indexed by search engines like Google. The goal is to find your company's sensitive information—usually employee email addresses and passwords—before a criminal can use them to log into your systems.

Small businesses are often the biggest victims of credential theft. Hackers know that employees often reuse the same password for their work email, their personal social media, and their favorite online store. If the online store is hacked, the hacker will immediately try that same email and password on the employee's work account. Dark web monitoring acts as an early warning system, telling you exactly which account is at risk so you can fix it before the damage is done.

What a dark web monitoring tool actually finds

A professional monitoring service looks for several types of data that could be used to harm your business. While passwords are the most common, they are not the only thing hackers are looking for.

• Corporate Credentials: Valid email and password combinations for your employees.
• Personal Data: Social security numbers or birth dates that could be used for identity theft.
• Intellectual Property: Stolen documents or trade secrets being offered for sale.
• Financial Data: Company credit card numbers or bank account details.

The limitations of dark web monitoring

It is important to be realistic about what these tools can do. Dark web monitoring is a detective tool, not a cleanup service. Once your data is on the dark web, it is impossible to 'delete' it. The dark web is decentralized, and thousands of people may have already downloaded the information. The value of the tool is the alert it provides. It tells you that a specific password is 'burned' and must be changed immediately across all services where it was used.

Another limitation is that some parts of the dark web are private and highly restricted. No tool can see everything. However, most hackers want to sell their stolen goods, which means they eventually have to post them in places that monitoring services can find. While not perfect, it is far better than having no visibility at all into what the criminal world knows about your business.

How to respond when you get an alert

Getting a dark web alert can be scary, but it is actually a sign that your security system is working. When an alert arrives, the first step is to identify the employee and the account involved. You should immediately require a password change for that account and all other accounts where that employee might have used the same password. If you haven't already, this is the perfect time to ensure that Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is active on the account, as this will stop a hacker even if they have the correct stolen password.

1. Verify the source of the alert to ensure it is not a phishing attempt itself.
2. Contact the affected employee and explain that their credentials were found in a data breach.
3. Reset the password for the affected work account and any linked cloud services.
4. Check the account logs for any unusual activity that may have occurred before the alert.
5. Remind the entire team about the dangers of password reuse across personal and work accounts.

Dark web monitoring as part of a larger strategy

Dark web monitoring should not be your only line of defense. It works best when combined with a strong password policy and a reliable password manager. A password manager ensures that every employee uses a unique, complex password for every single site. If one site is breached, the stolen password won't work anywhere else. This turns a dark web alert from a major crisis into a minor maintenance task. It also reduces the number of alerts you will get, as unique passwords are much less valuable to hackers than reused ones.

• Are you currently receiving alerts when your company email addresses appear in data breaches?
• Do you have a clear plan for what to do when an employee's password is stolen?
• Is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) active on all your most important business accounts?
• Do you have a way to check if your business domain is mentioned on hacker forums?
• Are you training your employees on how to spot the signs of a compromised account?