Should I be worried about the dark web and the security of my network?

The ‘dark web’ as it is called, is where cybercriminals sell stolen information for use in cyberattacks. While it sounds very scary, it’s actually become just another aspect of digital security that all businesses and individuals need to know about. If you have good protection in place at the edge of your network, you should be sufficiently protected from any potential threats – but with the ‘dark web’ it will be your security policies that matter more.

The chances are that information about you, your employees and even your business, will already be out there on the dark web. When you hear about hacks on major companies and information about customers being stolen, this is where the information ends up. Cybercriminals may steal usernames and identities, and even (if they can get access to them) passwords. They will then sell this data on to other cybercriminals, who will use it to try and break into people’s online accounts.

This is why cybersecurity experts are always telling us to change passwords regularly and not to open any emails from addresses you don’t recognise. It’s also why two-factor authentication is used to access many services now. Of course, if you deploy a unified security gateway on your network, it will filter out the spam and phishing emails that will be sent to individuals in your organisation whose details may have found their way onto the dark web. It will also give you good all-round protection from other threats.

But more importantly, you should have rigorous processes in place to ensure your password regime is good (i.e. strong passwords are used and they are changed regularly) and that colleagues always make use of two-factor authentication when it’s available to access any online services.

If you’re at all concerned about the dark web, or you’d just like to know more about it, ask your trusted Zyxel Networks security partner – or contact us at Zyxel Networks directly.