Do You Know Who's Lurking about in the Dark Web

As a little child you probably always wanted to sleep with the light on because of those monsters that you just knew were lurking in the dark, under your bed. Although most were just imaginary, there was that one time that a real noise jarred you awake and at that moment in time, your world stood still as you fought down panic only to later find it was the family cat who had quietly snuck in while you were taking a bath. Today, as a business owner, you can only imagine the security threats you face, some real, some maybe not. Massive Alliance, international cyber security firm, explains that those fears are most likely not so imaginary.

Enter the Dark Web

What most people don't know about the Internet is that there are two basic layers, which are actually comprised of other sub-layers, but for simplicity's sake there is the Surface Web and then there's the dreaded Dark Web. As you can imagine, the Dark Web is where the threats come from but what you may not imagine is just how big that layer really is. Did you know that the Surface Web, the web you go on every day to upload data to the Cloud where your employees access it only comprises .1% of the total Internet? No, you didn't read that wrong! The Dark Web and all its layers takes up the rest, which means pretty much all of it. So how can you fight that when the enemy so outnumbers you?

What Goes on in the Dark?

Here is where cyber security experts come into play. Brook Zimmatore, Founder and CEO of Massive Alliance says "Within the dark web there are layers upon layers of criminal depth. Much like the local student dealing at a party, versus a fully organized criminal cartel operation; in the underground there are lamers (fake hackers) and there are pros. Within these dark hacker communities, you primarily find signals of who the next victims will be or who was already hit. Information is valuable and the market places thrive off of current information and exploits.

The trick in cyber security is the dissection and separation of valued information, which directly affects organizations now, against false positives which are historical or irrelevant. The key in this, to provide the most valuable cyber security intelligence, is the assignment of priorities on WHO, WHAT, WHERE and the ability to understand whether the threat actor in the dark web is discussing relevant information which is current to their target or not. This requires collaboration on a very intimate level between the company and their cyber security provider and has been the foundation of the Strixus cyber security monitoring system."

Over the past few years, a variety of companies have developed what can almost be termed as a phobia of the dark web. However, the majority of this fear has come about due to the media and movies which have glamorized, and often exaggerated it. The Dark Web basically refers to online locations that cannot be found through search engines, often because they have been blacklisted for unethical activities. However, there are elements of the Dark Web that are frequented by black market traders and cyber criminals. The latter is what businesses should be looking out for.

I Now Pronounce You Man and Machine

With the advances in technology, Machine Learning has come a very, very long way. No, machines can't take the place of humans but there are some 'jobs' they can do at the speed of light which humans struggle to complete in a day or two. Because of this there is a marriage of man and machine that acts in tandem as one, just like in the traditional understanding of wedlock. Machine learning has made computers intelligent to the point that they are actually intuitive. They search and crawl and watch for red flags and that's where the human spouse begins his or her job. The machine is the hunter/gatherer partner while the human is the decision maker. The machine spots the cyber threat and the human decides what to do about it. Kill it or let it do its work? It may not be a threat at all. Truly this is a marriage made in heaven.

Together man and machine are your best line of defense against a data breach because they work together to find and neutralize any and all threats. The one thing that you should always be aware of, though, is the fact that the Dark Web is very big. As a result, you need the efficiency and speed of a machine to scope out your threats by recognizing patterns that indicate that activity is indeed a threat. But, you also need a human to determine what to do about a threat if, indeed, it is a threat – and unfortunately, it probably is and if it is, within moments Massive Alliance will pick up the threat. Now it's up to you. What are you going to do about it?