At a time when cybersecurity concerns can be overwhelming to even the largest organizations, companies are turning to managed service providers (MSPs) to manage their IT infrastructure and end user systems. Some are turning to more specialized MSPs known as managed security service providers (MSSPs). All such organizations can leverage dark web monitoring on behalf of their clients.
Dark web monitoring pays attention to dark web and dark web adjacent sites for the purpose of identifying potential threats and risks before they become problems. A client could be facing security, financial, or reputational risks on a daily basis. It is the MSP’s responsibility to make sure those risks do not come to fruition.
Dark Web Monitoring and Early Detection
Source: experian.com
One of the primary goals of dark web monitoring among MSPs is early detection. In other words, MSPs seek to identify potential threats in the earliest possible stages. The earlier a threat is detected, the more effectively it can be dealt with.
MSPs should continually scan the dark web for:
● Mentions of client data
● Stolen credentials
● Sensitive trade information
● Information suggesting an imminent attack.
Early detection works best when it is combined with real-time alerts. Alerting clients immediately facilitates swift action that could wipe out a threat long before it is full blown. Needless to say, early detection is crucial for controlling the scope of any attack launched against a client.
Monitoring Encourages Proactive Measures
Source: gep.com
As the caretakers of a client’s IT infrastructure and end user systems, it is in the MSP’s best interest to be proactive about cybersecurity. Dark web monitoring encourages it. The very act of monitoring is proactive in and of itself. Likewise, monitoring can also encourage clients to do their part.
One particular area that is especially sensitive to proactive strategies is reputational control. In a post discussing dark web monitoring and MSPs, DarkOwl discusses how dark web and dark web adjacent sites are used to spread misinformation about targeted organizations. The post explains how threat actors might purposely spread information in order to damage an organization’s reputation.
Spreading such information puts both organizations and individuals at risk. And it is not just reputational risk. Individuals could be at physical risk as well. Therefore, adopting a proactive stance takes the fight to threat actors instead of waiting for them to do something requiring a reactive posture.
The Dark Web Ocean Is Vast
MSPs well versed in dark web monitoring know that this particular area of the internet is a vast ocean consisting of a seemingly limitless number of sites. Unfortunately, that means successful monitoring is an endless enterprise that not only must continue unabated, but also must evolve with the dark web itself.
Going back to the DarkOwl post, it also discusses one of the little-known consequences of ransomware. Oftentimes, when a targeted company refuses to pay a ransom to unlock its data, a threat actor will simply distribute that data across the dark web as a way to shame the organization.
The ransomware attack was bad enough. But data distribution opens the organization to further attacks by any number of threat actors who pick up the information on dark web or dark web adjacent sites. What was limited to a single ransomware attack could balloon into countless future attacks that vary in size, scope, and methodology.
Ongoing dark web monitoring should pick up on the fact that sensitive data has been released. And in fact, an MSP should begin looking for that data even as a ransomware attack is being resolved. Once a threat actor has access to a client’s data, it can be distributed across the dark web ocean with little effort.
Monitoring Can Be Customized
Source: techbldrs.com
Despite the vast ocean, monitoring can be customized to suit the needs of each client. The dark web can be monitored for:
● Employ credentials
● Intellectual property
● Payment information
● Personally identifying information
Certain industries may have more unique needs than others. In healthcare for example, dark web monitoring would focus heavily on sensitive patient information that could be used for ID theft or nefarious purposes. Meanwhile, an NGO might be more concerned about potential breaches involving highly sensitive government intelligence information.
An MSP can actively look for unique kinds of information across the dark web and adjacent spaces. With the right technology and skill, an MSP can find targeted data more easily than an organization’s in-house IT team.
Brand Impersonation and Fraud
Source: dsbls.com
From time to time and MSP is tasked with monitoring the dark web for instances of brand impersonation and fraud. This particular crime can have huge financial repercussions on an organization whose brand is compromised by threat actors.
Brand fraud can lead to a loss of intellectual property. It can expose a company’s financial records and sensitive customer information. It can completely destroy a brand’s reputation to the point of chasing away customers entirely.
Once again, the organization’s MSP is tasked with making sure this doesn’t happen. Ongoing monitoring of both dark web and dark web adjacent spaces clues the MSP in on possible incidents of brand fraud and impersonation.
Hunting the Hunters
Dark web monitoring is taken to a whole new level when MSPs integrate their monitoring with other cybersecurity strategies that allow them to hunt the hunters. For example, Managed Detection and Response (MDR) can be combined with dark web monitoring to hunt down and combat threats proactively.
Under such scenarios, MSPs become threat hunters. They put threat actors on the defensive by actively looking for what they are doing with the intent of shutting them down before they create problems. Hunting the hunters is the cybersecurity equivalent of the best defense being a good offense.
Managed service providers have a lot on their plates. Not only must they maintain client infrastructure and end user systems, but they also have to pay attention to all sorts of security threats. The most successful leverage dark web monitoring to identify and address threats proactively. They do so knowing just how threatening the dark web is.
