Dark Web Monitoring and its Contribution to Compliance Regulations

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others usually show only 4% of the data on the internet overall. Access to the additional 96% requires customized searching of particular websites, journals, books with a limited audience, archives, etc. This data is available on the Deep Web. It’s also critical to realize that, aside from the portions of the Dark Web hides, almost every action we take on the internet is public, identifiable, and perhaps being watched.

Dark Web Monitoring is a service businesses use to keep an eye on their confidential information. This enables organizations to reduce the risk of a data breach and take the required precautions to safeguard employees, clients, and corporate assets against a prospective attack.

Dark Web Monitoring and Security Controls

Dark web monitoring contributes to organizations’ compliance security controls by mitigating multiple attack vectors. The following list summarizes a few examples.

• Roughly 80% of attacks on web applications leverage stolen credentials. Dark web monitoring can mitigate this by alerting when credentials are found on the Dark Web and taking preventive measures.
• 81% of hacking-related breaches leverage stolen or weak passwords. Similarly, a dark web monitoring service helps protect employees’ credentials that may be exposed.
• Online banking details and payment information details are best sellers on the dark web with an average cost of 17.36 USD per stoled credit card information. Dark web monitoring is essential to prevent fraud in this industry.

Companies usually adhere to compliance standards to demonstrate safe data handling practices. Moreover, when security controls are broken, companies are in danger of security lapses, vulnerabilities, hacks, and regulatory fines. It’s crucial to keep up with security compliances because of this.

Several security guidelines, including GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, SOC2, CMMC, etc., establish security controls to protect company-sensitive data. These lay out the strategies corporations can use to train staff members on how to safeguard their assets. They also address the procedure for assessing the policy’s efficacy and making any necessary adjustments, as well as the application and observance of security precautions. Physical security laws safeguard a company’s tangible assets, such as its facilities and technological infrastructure, which comprises servers and other IT equipment. Regulations governing data security shield confidential material from expensive occurrences like data theft and data breaches.

Dark Web monitoring and GDPR

One of the most robust compliance regulations, the General Data Privacy Law, is a European Union standard for security procedures around data privacy. It addresses the security of the company’s data, including the data of its clients and employees. According to GDPR guidelines, even a person’s name, email address, or photo can be considered personal data, and any personal data breach is unacceptable. The legal processing of data must have been disclosed to the research subject when the data was collected. Simply obtain and analyze the bare minimum of data necessary to accomplish the stated objectives. In all circumstances, personal data must be true and up to date. Only store personally identifiable data as long as it’s necessary to achieve the intended goal. Processing must be done to guarantee the requisite security, privacy, and consistency. The responsibility for ensuring compliance with each of these GDPR principles lies with the data controller.

Dark Web Monitoring enables businesses to monitor their corporate and clients’ data on the dark web to determine whether it has been exposed there or not. If they discover any of their data there, their goal is to remove it to reduce loss.

Dark Web monitoring and HIPAA

Similarly, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets the standards for protecting sensitive patient data. The increased usage and electronic exchange of medical data have increased the requirement for data security. Healthcare businesses must now fulfill these rising demands for information while abiding by HIPAA rules and safeguarding PHI to provide patients with high-quality care. Organizations that deal with individually protected health information (PHI) should implement and follow security protocols to be HIPAA Compliant. These types of companies should strongly monitor the Dark Web to ensure their employee’s and patients’ data security. Proper monitoring of employees and patient records can prevent a potential data breach or impersonation that could lead to insurance, MEDICAID, or MEDICARE fraud.

Dark Web Monitoring and PCI

One of the most sensitive types of information for any company is the payment details of its employees and customers. A slight breach can cause a lot of damage to the company. For this purpose, PCI Compliance would be a continuing set of security controls that aims to minimize security risks, and credit and debit card data breaches. For this, dark web monitoring helps by actively looking for sensitive payment information such as credit and debit card numbers in the dark web. Additionally, financial institutions often use these services to monitor their customer’s usernames and email addresses and alert them when a compromise happens, thus, helping them prevent unauthorized access to online banking and finance systems.

Dark Web Monitoring and SOC2

All enterprises, especially those that outsource critical business operations to third-party contractors should be concerned about information security.  This is understandable given that improper data handling, particularly by app and information security providers, can expose businesses to threats, including malware installation, extortion, and data theft. SOC 2 is a compliance regulation usually adopted by service providers to demonstrate safe data handling practices.

Dark Web Monitoring and CMMC

Another popular privacy and security regulation named CMMC is a framework for cybersecurity required for US defense contractors. It combines many benchmarks and specifications to assess the cybersecurity readiness of the defense supply chain. Similarly, Dark Web monitoring may assists here by integrating into security platforms for faster incident response, and as part of monitoring workflows for investigation and reaction that can be utilized to quickly reduce threats. The gathered data may be transferred to other platforms such as SIEM and XDR systems to provide more precise insights from the complete security stack. Compromised credentials may lead to security incidents that could jeopardize the ability to get new federal contracts and the requieredd CMMC certification. Additionally, CMMC regulators and DoD contract stakeholders could assess the security posture of contractors by researching how much of their information has been exposed on the Dark Web.

Summary

Dark web monitoring aids businesses in upholding security and privacy standards. By adhering to regulations, companies can lower risks such as data loss and security breaches and avoid disciplinary measures that might lead to license revocation, reputational damage, lost clients, and significant fines and losses.