What is the Dark Web?
The Dark Web is a part of the World Wide Web that requires special software to access. Once inside, web sites and other services can be accessed. This is a sub-layer of the Internet that is hidden from conventional search engines like Google, BING, and Yahoo - who only search .04% of the indexed or “surface” Internet. The other 99.96% of the Web consists of databases, private academic and government networks, and the Dark Web.
The Dark Web is estimated to be 550 times larger than the surface Web and growing. Ask any reputable member of the IT Support Los Angeles Community and they will not only know a lot about the Dark Web, but they also know how dangerous it is for a casual user to surf around in there. Even very experienced IT support experts know better.
What is the Dark Web used for?
While the anonymity afforded by the Dark Web is useful for many legitimate activities, such as social media, that anonymity also helps in a vast array of illegal activities – ranging from the buying and selling of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as email addresses, passwords and Social Security Numbers, to engaging the services of assassins.
IT Support LA Can Help
If our monitoring reveals your or your employee’s PII for sale, IT Support LA will identify it. If your email address is there, criminals can potentially gain access to accounts associated with it. Scanning your email is a great first step to better protect your identity because it gives you the knowledge you need to act.
IT Support LA ID Agent delivers the same advanced credential monitoring capabilities used by Fortune 500 companies. It connects to multiple Dark Web servers including Tor, 12P and Freenet, to search for compromised credentials, without requiring you to connect any of your software or hardware to these high-risk services directly. Proactive solution provides real-time awareness of compromised credentials before identify theft or data breaches occur.
When you sign up for our Technology Solutions:
- IT Support LA ID Agent Identifies compromises throughout your organization
- IT Support LA ID Agent Monitors 24/7 365
- IT Support LA ID Agent Reports 80,000 compromised emails daily
- IT Support LA ID Agent Prepares by collecting information
- IT Support LA ID Agent Predicts to be a step ahead - not just ready
- IT Support LA ID Agent Prevents with proactive monitoring
About IT Support LA ID Agent
IT Support LA ID Agent provides a comprehensive set of threat intelligence and identity monitoring solutions to private and public sector organizations and to millions of individuals impacted by cyber incidents. The company's flagship product, IT Support LA ID Agent, combines human and sophisticated Dark Web intelligence with capabilities to identify, analyze and monitor for compromised or stolen employee and customer data, mitigating exposure to clients’ most valuable assets – their digital identity. From monitoring your organization’s domain for compromised credentials to deploying identity and credit management programs in order to protect the employees and customers you serve – IT Support LA has the solution.
To this end, we proactively perform functions that the average IT services ‘Guy’ does not. We focus on cyber threats that are specific to our clients’ environments. We monitor the Dark Web and the criminal hacker underground for exposure of our clients’ credentials to malicious individuals. We accomplish this by looking specifically for our clients’ top-level email domains. When a credential is identified, we harvest it. While we harvest data from typical hacker sites like Pastebin, a lot of our data originates from sites that require credibility or a membership within the hacker community to enter. To that end, we monitor over 500 distinct Internet relay chatroom (IRC) channels, 600,000 private Websites, 600 twitter feeds, and execute 10,000 refined queries daily. No generic IT services ‘Guy’ will do all that.
Online criminals may be able to find you, but IT Support LA ID Agent can help!
IT Support LA offers a FREE one-time scan to any company in the Greater Los Angeles and Ventura County areas with 10 or more computers and a server. We have performed many of these confidential scans, and there is no obligation to ever use our Managed IT services.
Either fill in the form on this page or call us at:
818-805-0909
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Dark Web monitoring?
A: Our Managed IT services are designed to help both public and private sector organizations detect and mitigate cyber threats that leverage stolen email addresses and passwords. We have the technology to leverage a combination of human and artificial intelligence that scours botnets, criminal chat rooms, blogs, Websites and bulletin boards, Peer to Peer networks, forums, private networks, and other black-market sites 24/7, 365 days a year to identify stolen credentials and other personally identifiable information (PII).
How does my information get on the Dark Web?
A: First off, it was stolen. Criminals steal in a variety of ways: Phishing (phony email scams containing malware), direct hacking and even dumpster diving for carelessly discarded statements containing account information. A business with an experienced IT services department or outsourced IT support or a Managed Services Provider will be much better protected than a typical consumer, but crooks are nothing if not resourceful in figuring out ways to steal.
Once stolen, they post it on the new internet Black Market – the Dark Web.
Can you be tracked on the Dark Web?
A: Theoretically, no. Websites there have hidden IP addresses, BUT: depending on the expertise (or lack thereof) of the web developer, it has been possible to unmask sites. Remember this rule: if you have a weakness, it will be found and exploited.
How do you remove your information from the Dark Web?
A: If you have found your email address, SSN or other PPI on the Dark Web, there are definitive steps to take immediately: Notify the three main credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, and place a credit freeze with each in order to prevent anyone from opening new accounts in your name. The FBI offers a comprehensive checklist and available resources for any type of identity theft on their ‘Scams and Safety’ website page.
How dangerous is the Dark Web?
A: It is dangerous depending on what you’re doing there. IT Support LA addressed this in a recent Blog "Is Your Data for Sale on the Dark Web?"
Can you browse the dark web on your phone?
A: Yes. The Tor Project, the company that premiered the original Tor Anonymity network that enabled the existence of the Dark Web, has launched a mobile version of their browser that gives smartphone users access to the Dark Web. Theoretically, the risk factor is about the same as using a desktop computer. Even so, if you are using a phone that is connected to your company network, check with your IT services department or outsourced IT support before you go wandering around in there.
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