What Is Dark Web Monitoring?

Dark web monitoring is the process of continuously scanning hidden areas of the internet, inaccessible through conventional search engines, to identify sensitive information that may have been leaked, stolen, or exposed. These leaks could include compromised passwords, credentials, intellectual property, and other confidential data.

Dark web monitoring is a proactive approach to managing cyber threats. The objective of this cybersecurity initiative is to detect sensitive data leaks that impact a business as quickly as possible, allowing sufficient time for security teams to respond before they're used to facilitate a security incident.

Dark web monitoring tools are organizational-level solutions that offer improved detection against cyber threats on the dark web compared to basic identity theft monitoring tools. Identity theft monitoring tools are usually designed to protect individual users rather than entire businesses.

Learn how UpGuard detects data leaks on the dark web >

Criminals and threat actors often buy and sell stolen information obtained from data leaks and data breaches on the dark web to avoid detection and activity tracking. The stolen data typically includes sensitive information such as bank account numbers, social security numbers, credit reports, and other critical PII (personally identifiable information), which is commonly traded on the dark web as part of criminal attempts at illicit activity.

A dark web monitoring solution regularly monitors the dark web and dark web forums for any confidential data. Once the software identifies stolen data, it notifies the victim and offers remediation and data protection solutions to help mitigate the impact.

Historical context of the dark web 

For decades, the internet has been conceptually divided into three layers:

• Surface web: This is the part of the internet indexed by search engines like Google, which is commonly accessible to the public.
• Deep web: The deep web comprises less accessible webpages, typically hidden from the general public, using authentication logins and paywalls (e.g., email accounts, banking portals, and other sensitive records).
• Dark web: The dark web is a small, heavily encrypted fraction of the deep web, which consists of anonymously-hosted websites and self-contained, encrypted overlay networks that are not indexed by conventional search engines. It can only be accessed through anonymous web browsers like TOR (The Onion Router).

Dark web monitoring evolved as a key cybersecurity function due to the commercialization of stolen data.

Initially, detecting leaks was a manual, reactive process, relying on security researchers or law enforcement alerting a company after a breach was confirmed. However, the rise of large-scale data breaches, illegal credential marketplaces, and automated "infostealer" malware logs created a massive, constant stream of compromised data. This made continuous, automated, and proactive monitoring essential for modern risk management. It transformed from a niche investigative service into a core, full-time cybersecurity function.

The dark web and identity theft

Thanks to the anonymity of the dark web, it creates a haven for all illicit activity and cybercrime. One of the most common digital crimes on the dark web is the illicit buying and selling of stolen personal information through illegal marketplaces, which is enabled by identity theft (ID theft), identity breaches, or phishing scams. This personal information was likely compromised initially in a cyber attack, such as a data breach or ransomware attack.

Common types of stolen personal data that could be found on the dark web include:

• Credit card numbers
• Debit card numbers
• Driver’s license numbers
• Social Security numbers (SSN)
• IP addresses that have been recruited in a botnet

If a victim’s personal information and sensitive data are exploited on the dark web, it can have significant financial and social consequences and take years to recover. One compromised account can render the most sophisticated company with high-end security platforms vulnerable.

That’s why dark web monitoring solutions are essential for tracking user information on the dark web before identity theft occurs and taking the proper steps to protect credentials and sensitive data.

Dark web monitoring and third-party risk management

Today, an organization's security is intrinsically linked to its vendors and suppliers—its supply chain. This interconnectedness means a vendor's security weakness can become a direct attack vector against your own company.

• Primary attack vector: Over one-third of data breaches in 2024 originated from compromises at third-party vendors.
• The critical role of monitoring: Dark web monitoring is the primary method for detecting if a vendor's systems have been compromised and if the stolen data—specifically, credentials or access tokens that grant access to your systems—have been posted for sale.
• Real-time threat alerts: This capability turns a passive, periodic vendor risk assessment into a real-time threat alert system. Suppose an employee of a third-party vendor has their credentials leaked. In that case, dark web monitoring will often detect that exposure, allowing your security team to revoke access and prevent a full-scale supply chain attack before the vendor even knows they've been compromised.

How does your personal information end up on the dark web?

While identity thieves may use cyber attacks to gain access to sensitive information and assets, indexed detection reports by CrowdStrike Security Cloud state that 62% of data and identity breaches in Q1 2021 aren’t related to malware at all.

Data breaches that expose personal information can be attributed mostly to factors like employee negligence, unpatched vulnerabilities, ignored attack vectors or unprotected APIs (application programming interfaces). A good example of this type of data breach is the Australian Optus data breach, which exposed 10 million records of Australian customers.

With the right methods and cybersecurity breaches, hackers can search, find, and compile a complete set of a victim’s information, known as “fullz” on the dark net. These full sets contain a complete overview of a victim’s credentials with sensitive and non-sensitive info and can be sold for a much higher price than separate pieces of a person’s PII.

Skilled cybercriminals can exploit high-profile data leaks and data breaches from major companies that hold large quantities of personal and sensitive information of customers. In many cases, hackers don’t exploit the stolen data themselves but instead sell it in clusters to the highest bidder on the dark web markets.

How to protect your information from the dark web

While dark web monitoring offers individuals and businesses peace of mind against data breaches, it’s important to take action to prevent future potential threats and practice strong online security.

Whether you have a dark web monitoring solution or not, here are the best practices for preventing data breaches, reducing threats, and spotting signs of identity theft early:

• Using strong passwords and regularly changing them, as well as using password managers
• Implement MFA (multi-factor identification) for additional protection against unauthorized access
• Only access encrypted HTTPS websites
• Avoid browsing on unprotected Wi-Fi networks, like in airports or coffee shops, and use VPNs wherever possible
• Implement a strong cybersecurity culture and awareness among employees and offer cybersecurity awareness training or educational programs
• Protect endpoints and reduce your attack surface via automated protection, IT risk management, and vulnerability management programs
• Using identity management tools for a better overview of the lifecycle
• Implementing access privileges for employees and security teams

Learn how to prevent data leaks >

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How does dark web monitoring work?

Dark web monitoring leverages automated tools and advanced search algorithms to continuously scan hidden corners of the internet, such as dark web marketplaces, forums, and chatrooms, for specific data tied to an organization or individual. These tools are programmed to search for keywords, corporate domains, breached credentials, intellectual property, and other sensitive information.

The process involves scanning sources for potential data leaks and then analyzing the collected data against a set of keywords that a company wants to monitor, such as privileged credentials or specific intellectual property details. 

When the monitoring system detects a match—for example, an employee’s credentials published in a cybercriminal forum—it triggers an alert. These alerts are then forwarded to the security team to check for false positives. Once a legitimate data leak is confirmed, it undergoes a remediation workflow that involves securing all compromised accounts and systems before the exposure compromises them.  

UpGuard monitors the dark web for data breaches and security incidents, with a focus on detecting identity breaches, particularly those linked to infostealer malware. Its platform integrates these insights to help organizations assess the scope and impact of compromised data.

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Identifying data leaks early reduces the time attackers have to exploit exposed data to cause a data breach.

A reliable dark web monitoring software can include some or most of the following functionalities:

• Continuously monitor and track millions of websites on the dark web in real-time
• Record specific information like a work email address or company name, as well as other information that may be linked to your sensitive information and credentials
• Alert businesses on how long the data has been exposed and which methods have been used to gain access
• Implement a rapid and effective incident response plan to quickly mitigate threats and offer remediation solutions
• Utilize automated threat intelligence and sophisticated data insight tools to assess the threat levels of the recorded data
• Offer relevant information regarding the threat or leak, including related breaches and additional companies and organizations that have been affected
• Classify threats and risks, as well as connect related threat sources for improved profiling and threat mitigation
• Track specific keywords across the entire internet related to the user or business using automated solutions to identify a data leak or breach
• Integrate collected data with other security solutions like attack surface monitoring to create more precise threat insights
• Provide users with special credit monitoring and protection modules for identity theft
• Offer a spousal or children’s protection module that protects the identity and credentials of family members

Learn how to detect data leaks from ransomware attacks >

The monitoring process: A step-by-step overview

Dark web monitoring operates through a multi-stage process designed for speed and accuracy:

1. Advanced scanning and collection:

• Focus: Continuous, automated crawling of high-risk sources.
• Sources: Specialized crawlers access black-market forums, illegal marketplaces, public and private paste sites (where stolen data is often dumped first), torrent sites, and encrypted chat logs (such as Telegram and Discord). These crawlers employ specialized techniques to circumvent access restrictions and access the closed sections of the dark web.

2. Identifying and analyzing compromised data:

• Targeting: The system searches for specific keywords and data patterns tied to the client organization, including corporate domain names, employee email addresses, specific IP ranges, customer PII formats, and proprietary project names.
• Validation: Raw data dumps are analyzed and contextualized to filter out false positives and confirm whether the exposed data is fresh and actionable (e.g., verifying if the leaked credentials are still active).

3. Alerting and escalation workflows:

• Real-time alerts: The system triggers an immediate, high-fidelity alert when a confirmed match is found.
• Context: Alerts include the source, the type of data exposed (e.g., exposed credentials, leaked PII, domain impersonation), and the severity, providing initial remediation guidance (e.g., "Force a password reset for all affected users").

4. Integration with Security Ecosystems:

• Automation: Monitoring tools integrate directly with existing security systems to automate responses and reduce manual effort.
• SIEM/SOAR: Integration with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platforms allows for automated playbooks, such as triggering an immediate endpoint scan or deactivating a compromised account.
• Vendor risk tools: Feeds directly into Vendor Risk Management (VRM) and Attack Surface Management (ASM) dashboards to show the real-time impact of a leak on the organization's or a vendor's risk posture.

UpGuard monitors the dark web for data breaches and security incidents, focusing on detecting identity breaches, particularly those linked to infostealer malware. Its platform integrates these insights to help organizations assess the scope and impact of compromised data. Identifying data leaks early reduces the time attackers have to exploit exposed data to cause a data breach.

Common risks a dark web monitoring solution can identify

Besides malware and data breaches, one of the most common risks that many dark web monitoring solutions can detect are:

• Third-party breaches
• DNS spoofing
• Impersonation attacks
• Accidental data leaks
• Data leaks appearing in criminal chat rooms, forums, and dark web sites
• P2P leaks
• Brand misuse

‍Learn how to reduce false positives in data leak detection >

Why dark web monitoring matters

Dark web monitoring is more than a simple detection tool; it's a critical component of a proactive cyber defense strategy. It's designed to minimize the cost and impact of a data breach by detecting compromised assets before attackers can fully exploit them.

Benefits of dark web monitoring

• Proactive defense: Monitoring enables the organization to shift its security posture from reactive cleanup to proactive risk mitigation.
• Reducing "dwell time": The average time for an organization to identify and contain a breach can take hundreds of days. Organizations that contain a breach in under 30 days can save over $1 million compared to those who take longer. Dark web monitoring drastically reduces this delay, enabling detection in minutes or hours, which is key to minimizing financial and reputational damage.
• Protecting high-value assets: Direct monitoring defends against the most common breach vector—stolen credentials. Credentials or data were stolen in nearly half of all cyberattacks.
• Rapid incident response: A reliable dark web monitoring software can include a fast and effective incident response plan to mitigate threats and offer remediation solutions quickly.

Supply chain security advantages

Dark web monitoring provides an essential out-of-band view of your supply chain risk—an insight that cannot be obtained from standard questionnaires or automated surface scans.

• Vendor compromise detection: This is one of the only ways to gain real-time visibility into a third-party breach before the vendor officially reports it.
• The scale of third-party risk: Third-party vendor and supply chain compromise was the second most prevalent attack vector and the second costliest type of breach, averaging $4.91 million. According to a recent report, at least 35.5% of all data breaches in 2024 originated from compromises at third-party vendors, a 6.5% increase from the previous year.
• Preventing lateral movement: If a vendor's credentials that grant access to your network are posted online, dark web monitoring will identify that exposure. This allows your team to immediately revoke API keys or restrict VPN access, effectively cutting off the attacker's path and preventing a supply chain attack that could have crippled your operations.

Use cases and real-world applications

Dark web monitoring provides actionable intelligence that enables organizations to identify and prevent major security incidents. The value of these tools lies in their ability to bridge the gap between a third-party compromise and an attack on your own network.

Here are two examples illustrating how this proactive approach works:

Case study 1: Preventing customer PII compromise at a retailer

Scenario

A national retailer uses a third-party marketing vendor to manage customer email campaigns. The marketing vendor's employee database, which contains thousands of customer email addresses and hashed passwords (often reused by customers on other sites), has been compromised via an infostealer malware attack. The attacker publishes the full database dump on a dark web marketplace, offering the data for sale as a "fresh retail dump."

Alert and Prevention

1. Detection: The retailer's dark web monitoring tool, continuously scanning for its corporate domain and customer PII patterns, detects the dump within hours of it being posted on the dark web.
2. Validation: The security team quickly validates the leak, confirming that the vendor's compromised data contained customer credentials that could be used for credential stuffing attacks against the retailer's own e-commerce site.
3. Remediation: The retailer immediately forced a password reset for all affected customer accounts and revoked the third-party marketing vendor's access credentials to the retailer’s internal systems.
4. Result: The retailer neutralized the threat before the threat actor could successfully compromise a single customer account or laterally move into the retailer’s network. The swift, proactive response prevented a massive customer breach and the associated regulatory fines.

Case Study 2: Protecting Financial Systems from High-Value Credential Leaks

Scenario

A financial institution uses proprietary software running on a server accessible only via a specific, high-privilege SWIFT credential (used for international payments). A system administrator at a managed service provider (a fourth-party vendor) accidentally stores the private key file on a personal, synchronized cloud drive. A sophisticated attack later compromises this personal drive, and the SWIFT credential surfaces in an encrypted chat log used by organized crime groups.

Alert and Prevention

1. Detection: The financial institution's dark web monitoring platform, configured to monitor specific keywords such as the institution's full name, the unique identifier of the SWIFT system, and the format of the private key, triggers a high-severity alert.
2. Validation: The internal security team immediately isolates the incident, recognizing the severe risk posed by the exposed payment system credential.
3. Remediation: The institution revokes the compromised key/token and deactivates the associated administrator account. They also notify the managed service provider about their employee's compromise, initiating a forensic investigation.
4. Result: By detecting the credential before it was exploited, the institution prevented a potential multi-million-dollar financial transfer fraud and avoided a regulatory investigation that would have followed a compromise of its core payment infrastructure.

Legal and ethical considerations

While dark web monitoring is a crucial security measure, organizations must navigate a complex landscape of legal and ethical considerations, particularly when dealing with global data privacy regulations, such as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).

The data monitoring scope

Dark web monitoring operates in a legally distinct area because it focuses on data that is already stolen, exposed, and publicly traded on criminal forums.

• What is monitored: Security platforms monitor for corporate domain names, employee email addresses, leaked credentials (including usernames and hashed passwords), internal project names, and specific PII patterns (such as bank account numbers or SSNs) that are actively being discussed, bought, or sold on illicit channels.
• What is NOT monitored: Monitoring tools are explicitly not designed or used to monitor private, legitimate online activity or access lawful private communications. The focus is purely on threat intelligence gleaned from compromised data.
• Ethical acquisition: Reputable dark web monitoring services do not participate in illegal activities or pay threat actors for data. They rely on sophisticated, automated crawling of already exposed data dumps and open criminal-facing sites, ensuring the intelligence is legally and ethically acquired.

Privacy, consent, and policy

Organizations must establish clear internal policies to manage employee and customer privacy expectations:

• Employee privacy: Companies should have a clear security policy, often outlined in employee handbooks or security agreements, stating that corporate credentials (such as emails and VPN access) are monitored for security purposes. This ensures employees understand that the protection of the company network takes precedence over individual credential privacy when a leak is detected.
• Global compliance: For multinational organizations, dark web monitoring must be conducted in accordance with all relevant international laws, striking a balance between security and global data protection requirements.

Compliance with major regulations

Discovering and acting on leaked data promptly is crucial for regulatory compliance, particularly with stringent breach notification timelines.

• GDPR: Dark web monitoring enables organizations to fulfill their "duty of care" by protecting the personal data of EU citizens. By dramatically reducing detection time, monitoring is crucial to meeting the stringent 72-hour breach notification requirement imposed by the regulation. Failure to detect a leak quickly can result in massive fines based on global revenue.‍
• CCPA/CPRA: The CCPA (and the subsequent CPRA) gives California residents specific rights over their Personal Information (PI). Monitoring helps identify breaches involving California residents' PII, ensuring the organization can comply with consumer notification and remediation obligations, which helps mitigate the financial penalties associated with data breaches.

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UpGuard's proactive approach

Dark web monitoring is crucial—that much is clear. With a proactive defense against credential theft and supply chain attacks, you can safeguard your organization more effectively. By detecting compromised data in the minutes or hours after it’s exposed, organizations gain the critical time needed to avoid millions in damages and ensure compliance with strict regulatory timelines, such as the GDPR's 72-hour notification window.

How UpGuard helps detect data leaks on the dark web

UpGuard is designed to provide security teams with high-fidelity, actionable dark web intelligence, unifying threat data across your entire risk surface.

UpGuard helps organizations identify and mitigate data leaks by monitoring web sources for exposed credentials and sensitive information. By leveraging its Breach Risk Threat Monitoring, UpGuard enables security teams to stay ahead of emerging threats and take action before compromised data leads to further risk.

Key features of UpGuard's dark web monitoring solution include:

• Real-time alerts: Providing instant, verified alerts for data exposed on black-market forums, paste sites, and encrypted chat logs.
• Unified risk view: Intelligence feeds directly into your Attack Surface and Vendor Risk dashboards, giving a single, holistic view of internal and supply chain security.
• Actionable use cases: Detecting a range of threats, including exposed credentials and secrets, leaked PII and financial information, or domain impersonation attempts.

In addition to open, deep, and dark web monitoring, UpGuard provides continuous visibility into third-party and internal security risks, helping businesses proactively strengthen their security posture.

Download our ebook to learn how Attack Surface Management helps you monitor and secure your most critical data and assets.