Risky Business Of Dark Web Tools And Services You Should Know About

The deep web is a significant part of the whole of the internet. It consists of more than 90% of the internet. The other part comprises of dark web and surface web. The dark web is often referred to as darknet or a hub of deep web directories. If we talk about the three layers of the internet, the whole picture is pretty like the tip of an iceberg. The tip of the ice is the surface web.

The crust is visible web where all the search results a user makes are tracked, monitored and listed by the traditional search engines. We need specialized software and browsers to access the dark web or deep web. These are obtained by using specialized software and web servers on centralized computers hosting Deep Web directories. The most common tools to browse through the dark web is Tor and I2P browsers and Operating System as stated by J. Eduardo Campus, former Cybersecurity advisor and presently he is the co-founder of the consulting firm Embedded Knowledge. 

Dark Web Tools That Cause Enterprise Risk: 

The web tools and services that pose a threat to the business houses in the form of network breach or data comprise when the system gains access to Deep Web directories which is accessed with the help of .onion hidden Links. 

• Credentials
• Phishing
• Refunds
• Customer data
• Operational data
• Financial data
• Hidden Wiki Links
• Dark web directories
• .onion Links
• Intellectual property/trade secret
• Other emerging threats
• Software attacks by malwares, distributed denial of service (DDoS) and botnets
• Permissions to sensitive data including remote access Trojans (RATs), key loggers and exploits
• Third-party surveillance, including customization and targeting
• Back-up support such as tutorials

Here we know more about the tools in details…

1. Malware: 

The dark web links have an important role in the ever-increasing number of malware developers; the darknet is an atmosphere that suits malware developers and botmasters pretty well. There are several forums and platforms on the darknet where there are excellent points of consensus where malware developers agree to pay large amounts of money for malicious code, command and control infrastructures. 

We can reproduce a list of malicious malware which have been exploiting both the Tor network and I2P darknet to hide their command and control servers are as follows: 

1.    Malware Using C&C in the Darknet: 

There are many types of malware authors which are directly controlled by servers hosted on both Tor and I2P and are quite easy to find Ransom-as-a-Service (RaaS) in the darkness. We are reproducing a list of examples of malware which were discovered last year; they leverage darknet for their operations to a large degree;

1. MACSPY – Remote Access Trojan which is a service on the Dark web links.
2. MacRansom which is also the first Mac ransomware offered as a RaaS Service.
3. Karmen Ransomware RaaS
4. Ransomware-as-a-Service a.k.a Shifr RaaS that can create ransomware that can compile 3 form fields.

Shifr RaaS Control Panel: 

Malignant malware authors run C&C servers in the Deep Web Sites Links markets to make botnets work even more efficiently against operations run by the law enforcement agencies and governments. There are some typical advantages of Tor .onion urls directories based botnets as we list them here:

· Availability of the Private Tor Networks

· Possibility of Exit Node Flooding

· Availability of Authenticated Hidden Wiki Services.

Security researcher use traffic analysis to determine or detect botnet activities and have proposed different options to eradicate it, some of the ways are:

• Hiding IP addresses assigned to the C&C server
• Proper cleaning of the C&C servers and affected hosts
• Cancelling of domain names
• De-peered provider to be hosted

1. Remote Access Trojans (RAT): 

This malware attacks remote computers and allow the system to control the computer from malicious malware, and it will enable the attacker to handle the network from malicious purposes. They pose like a regular program or file. After the malware attacks and gets into the network of the victim and takes control. 

There are some steps we should take to avoid Remote Access Trojans: 

• Don’t follow suspicious links and don’t download attachments from a stranger and unknown emails. 
• Install and use trustworthy anti-malware programs and make sure to update them regularly. 
• Configure the default anti-virus software of your PC, Firewall, that way firewall immunes the pc to prevent malware from attacking another system in the network quickly. 
• Keep your OS updated with the recent patches also, if possible, use a virtual machine to access the internet. 

B. Espionage (Targeting and Customization): 

Accumulation of intelligence of a computer can help to notch up the security of the computers. The Industrial espionage includes legal and illegal methods of collecting data. It involves stealing intellectual data of people which is not with copyright. The breach and theft of financial information of one nation sponsored by other countries are known as industrial espionage. These espionages are done for many reasons like to increase tension between the two nations; political and strategic goals can be some of them. Some of the reasons can be: 

• Trade Secrets: These are some protected information that every business firm holds about their existing or upcoming products and service. 

• Client Information: Your clientele data, especially the financial information, can be thieved and disclosed in public to harm your business’s reputation. 

• Financial Information: Your financial data can be stolen to offer your existing clients better deals and offers to take the customer base away from your business. 

• Marketing Info: This allows competitors to prepare a timely cross-campaign for your business and marketing campaigns. Resultantly, it can make your ad campaigns less effective. 

Steps to avoid troubles with the dark web: 

Once you end up on the Darknet Links, there’s very little that can be done about it. It is best to take the action you land up there. 

1. Prohibit employees from using Tor .onion URL directories because that way they reach Darknet Links, they can very quickly be exposed to malicious software. Use software to block Tor. 
2. Educate employees on security protocols because it’s essential to teach all employees about Cybersecurity measures and compliance with your company’s policies and also Deep Web Links and Web Sites.

Limit employees’ access to sensitive data because the lesser people are exposed to sensitive data, the more protected it becomes.