Decreasing Your Chances of Becoming a Dark Web Statistic

There’s more than a grain of truth to the saying, “It’s not a question of if you’ll be a victim of a data breach, but when!”  The chances of your company falling victim to a data breach is as high as 1 out of 4, which is a lot more likely than your chances of being  struck by lightning.

According to a Ponemon Institute study sponsored by IBM, the average cost to a company that was involved in a data breach in 2017 was $3.62 million dollars, and the cost per file breached was $158!  Those records, which can contain personally identifiable information, payment methods and/or health care information, can vary in cost depending on your industry.  Healthcare records are the costliest, while research and public records are the least.  According to the study, these numbers have improved slightly over those of the previous year due to the increased use of rapid response teams and advance planning.

So once a business has been hacked, what happens to the exposed information? Generally, cyber criminals will sell it on the Dark Web, which is a hidden layer of the internet accessed only by special encryption software (such as Tor). This software hides your IP address and browsing history and skews your location, by making it look like you are in an alternate location from where you actually are. It’s easy to see why the bad guys who profit from identity theft and fraud are drawn to the Dark Web as the perfect “marketplace” to buy and sell business secrets and hacked information under the cloak of anonymity, and the perfect “hideout” from which to launch and test cyber-attacks. Studies have shown that over one hundred million dollars of “illegal revenue” is generated each year by these cyber criminals.

So what’s your best defense against their attacks? How can you mitigate the impact if you become a victim?  Having an in-house or outsourced rapid response team available to quickly contain the security issues can make all the difference in the reducing the overall cost of the breach.  A good response team will be ready in advance with an up-to-date incident response plan, based on the latest threat intelligence, for addressing and remediating the vulnerability.

There’s more good online information and advice every day about cybersecurity, but the quantity and spread of the threats is increasing just as fast. Having a rapid response team of cybersecurity professionals ready to go, with a comprehensive plan that includes dark web monitoring, can help find and seal any “chinks in your armor.” If your business doesn’t have the resources in-house, it makes good sense to partner with an IT solution provider who does.  You’ll be free to focus on running your business, while knowing that there’s an experienced, trusted resource that’s got your back.