Most of the dark web is non-threatening. But because of its inaccessibility and sheer size, it gives a perfect hiding place for bad actors like extremist groups and criminals. In any case, if you are not monitoring it often, it might affect your security. Your security team can oversee valuable sources of threat intelligence. The reason is that the dark web can be the best option for getting information for everything that may range from urgent response and cybersecurity to identity resolution.
The importance of deep web monitoring
Today, the need for a deep web monitoring tool as the importance of monitoring the deep web increases. Dark web monitoring has turned out to be an integral part of today’s investigations by investigators and analysts alike. They need dark web monitoring tools and techniques so that they can get the information they need. The dark and deep web when combined are 90 percent of all content present on the web. But these investigators and analysts are dealing with many challenges when they are carrying out their investigations.
There is a need for extracting, processing, and analyzing huge amounts of unstructured web data to obtain critical insights. Such professionals must be able to browse the deep web anonymously and securely. And they need to gather appropriate web data while leaving slight digital footprints behind that might notify threat groups or actors being researched. In simple words, it can be said that the need for dark web monitoring tools is necessary. They need a tool to operate in a secure environment while carrying out their investigations in an efficient and compliant manner.
How to monitor the deep web?
There are two options for monitoring the deep web in order to find out the threat intelligence. The first thing is to set up your own monitoring system and look for information manually. And the second one is to buy a deep web monitoring service. If you use the manual monitoring solution, then it offers a few benefits.
Of course, it is completely free of cost. You can customize your search based on your organization’s needs. The best part is that using a manual monitoring system can help you set up a simple system with just a few links in the bookmark tab of your browser. But there is a disadvantage associated with this approach, which is none other time. When you go with a manual investigation, then monitoring can become a labor-intensive task. As there is a long list of websites that you need to check every day, the chances are that your team may miss valuable information. There are higher chances that you can come across Trojans, viruses, worms, and many other computer malware.
On the other hand, when you use deep web monitoring tool services, then it can make your task simpler and faster. It can eliminate the need for manual search that can take many hours or even days to complete the task. There are keyword filters, which are also helpful to find the most appropriate content by clearing unrelated posts. Using monitoring services permits security teams to arrange automated alerts via phones or dashboards. This is how there is a need for trolling through websites for countless hours. A dark web monitoring tool can also give you the benefit of data breadth. With it, you can track many different channels like petition sites, Chan boards, paste sites, classifieds, alternative social websites, etc. when you follow a monitoring service tool, then it eliminates the chances of missing any valuable intelligence.
Features to look for in a monitoring tool
When you are going to choose a deep web monitoring tool, then you must take care of the below-mentioned features:
- Darknet Search Engine: While accessing the dark web, there is a darknet search engine needed like Tor (The Onion Router). This search engine hardly leaves a trace behind.
- Controlling information on OSINT websites: When investigations take place, it is important to gather relevant data from open-source websites that must be examined for actionable insights. This is why they need open-source intelligence tools to gather data from the dark web. This feature is a must have in your deep web monitoring service.
- Getting real–time insights: When it comes to the dark web, threat actors use different dark web sources to interact with each other, buy or sell illegal goods and services, and execute illegal activities. After collecting the data from cyberattacks, stolen goods are auctioned or posted on dark web forums. This is why it is important for a monitoring tool to search deep web sources so that your security team can get insight into the activities, sentiments, and behavior patterns of threat actors. This is how you can collect actionable intelligence on a real-time basis.
To know more about deep or dark web monitoring services or tools, visit Acid Tech.