Scary IT Sales Tactics: Your info is on the dark web!

We have seen an uptick of IT sales using fear as a selling tactic lately. “Your info is on the dark web!” they say, and maybe even produce a pretty report to prove it. What they don’t tell you? Everyone’s info is on the dark web.

There is little to no value on monitoring for stolen credentials on the dark web.

Screenshot from a dark web sales email we recently received

Many of these compromises that expose your data happen through third parties. Big providers such as Adobe and LinkedIn have suffered large breaches over the year, and will continue to do so. You do not have any control over these companies’ security, and that is why you must assume that your info is going to get out. Once info is on the dark web it cannot be contained, so there is no value to any services offering to do so.

So what can you do?

The only solution in this case is to keep doing what we have been doing since day 1: take a security first approach to everything IT in your business. You must always operate as if attackers have your password and are trying to get in right now. Leverage technologies like our comprehensive IT security and support services include:

• Multifactor security for all access outside the network (and with a zero trust approach, even inside!)

• Multiple types of email security, filtering both as it comes in and once the messages are sitting in a mailbox

• Breach detection technology

So in conclusion, the next time a sales person sends you an email about your info on the dark web, treat it like any other spam and hit delete!

Want to do your own dark web scan? Check out the original service at https://haveibeenpwned.com/. Please note the dark web is not one place, different scanning & reporting tools may return different results depending on where they are searching.