A Use Case For Identifying Threats on Dark Web Forums
In the process of investigating a threat actor that is active across a number of dark web hacking forums, the Searchlight Cyber threat intelligence team observed the individual targeting a European government agency. Specifically, our analysts observed the actor – who we track under the alias Magnetic Wolf – selling initial access to the entity through a piece of malware called a webshell.
This dark web post was shared with the government agency, who were then able to find and remediate the webshell before any cybercriminals could exploit it – effectively stopping the attack before it could begin. This may have prevented the organization from experiencing a cyberattack through this exploit at a later date and all of the negative consequences that entails.
Further investigation of dark web traffic to the organization’s infrastructure appeared to show indicators as to when the malware was utilized by the threat actor.
This use case demonstrates the value of the dark web as a source of intelligence on the “pre-attack” phase of attack, providing organizations a vital window of time to stop an attack before it has been launched.
FIND OUT HOW:
- Monitoring dark web forums can alert to a potential attack against an organization.
- Dark web traffic can indicate a potential network breach.
- Threat actor activity can be tracked and investigated.
- Dark web intelligence can be used to identify and mitigate malware installed on the network.
- Early warning signs in dark web intelligence can be used to stop attackers in their tracks and prevent an incident from ever taking place.