Light on the dark side of the Internet

Many companies have now recognized that brand pirates on the Internet are increasingly becoming a threat to sales, reputation, marketing efficiency and customer loyalty. The exact extent, however, often remains in the dark.

Because instead of operating only in the visible part of the network, cyber criminals have long been using hidden areas such as the Deep Web and Darknet to conduct their criminal business in secret.

Brand owners should therefore include these danger zones in their security strategy with the help of special monitoring technologies.

Over 600 million passwords from Linkedin, Fling, Tumblr and Myspace accounts were offered by cyber criminals on the so-called Darknet in the summer of 2016.

Although the access data was at least three years old, the damage to the company's image is enormous.

At the same time, such a crime reveals the dangers emanating from this part of the network. Increasingly, attacks are coming from the Deep Web and Darknet.

From the "Depths of the Internet

Web pages that are not found by search engines are called the Deep Web. Only those who know the address can access them.

Most pages on the Deep Web contain legal content for special user groups, such as offerings on a company's intranet or academic databases that are protected by a login.

But technologies for phishing sites or fake web stores are also hidden here.

Brand pirates lure their victims to such offers, e.g. through links in e-mails, in order to offer counterfeit goods under the name of a company.

The Darknet is a subset of the Deep Web. It contains collections of websites and content that are shielded from normal users and remain in the dark.

Darknet pages are seen only by those who use specific software, such as the Tor browser. Tor hides the IP address and disguises the user identity.

For example, all those who want or need to move unnoticed on the Internet rely on this. Many political dissidents, dissidents or whistleblowers often use the anonymity of this "dark" part of the Internet.

However, since it is possible to communicate anonymously via the quickly installed Tor browser, the darknet also attracts many criminals.

Fraudsters find their black market here to sell stolen login data for user accounts of bank or credit card customers. Other cyber criminals offer code-breaking instructions or fake merchandise.

This is precisely where the danger lies for brand owners: because brand pirates can cause great damage - from loss of sales to loss of image and customers to possible liability risks.

Companies cannot afford to remain inactive. The first step is to become aware of the dangers and understand what is going on in the dark part of the Internet.

Cyber criminals use the darknet as a communication platform, for example to exchange information about planned attacks or ongoing sales of stolen data.

To preserve assets, brand and image, it is recommended to implement an early warning system.

Brand owners should use special monitoring technologies to monitor all channels in which potentially criminal communication takes place.

These include Internet Relay Chat (IRC), social networks and Pastebins - websites where people can publish texts.

Surveillance by hand is not promising, because tracking down the secret meeting places of criminals is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Automated solutions can do this efficiently. They scour the dark spheres using tailored search words in countless languages, providing insight into specific threat scenarios.

Faced with other darknet users, they imitate human behavior. This allows brand protection experts to interact with the cyber criminals, infiltrate their networks, detect threats, and analyze the fraudsters' communications.

If a monitoring technology detects brand misuse, it warns the user of the threat in near real time.

Threats from the web continue to increase for brand owners and attacks are constantly evolving. However, many cases can be prevented if the right measures are taken.

That's why companies need to take action now and defend themselves against threats from the depths of the Internet.

With the help of automated monitoring solutions and the appropriate support from experts, it is possible to take action against brand pirates even in the darker parts of the Internet.