Darknet Mentions: The Silent Threat to Your Company’s Reputation

June 10, 2025

When most people hear the word “darknet,” they picture something out of a movie—hooded hackers, flickering monitors, maybe a green Matrix-style glow. But for companies, the darknet isn’t some far-off concept. It’s real. It’s active. And there’s a good chance your brand is already being mentioned there.

And no—it’s not just paranoia. It’s reality.

Let’s break down why that matters and what you should be watching for.

1. Your Company’s Data Might Be for Sale

One day, everything seems fine. The next? Your customer database, employee records, or internal strategy documents are listed on a darknet marketplace for a few hundred bucks in crypto. Maybe the breach happened through your systems. Maybe it was a third-party vendor. Either way, the fallout is yours.

Hackers aren’t just targeting banks and tech giants anymore. Everyone has data worth stealing.

Sites like the now-defunct Breached Forums were notorious for posting company breach data daily. In the wrong hands—whether cybercriminals or even unethical competitors—that data can do serious damage.

Figure 1: Threat actor, ShinyHunters, advertise Ticketmaster data on BreachForums

Take Oracle’s Cloud Supply Chain breach as an example. More than 6 million records were leaked, affecting over 140,000 tenants. The data reportedly included encrypted SSO passwords—critical keys to user authentication.

Why it matters: Once your data hits the darknet, you can’t undo it. The faster you know, the faster you can respond—before customers, investors, or regulators find out the hard way.

2. Your Employees’ Passwords Could Be Floating Around

This one’s disturbingly common. All it takes is a phishing email or infected website, and suddenly someone’s corporate credentials are being traded online.

Even more concerning is the rise of “stealer logs.” These are text files pulled from infected computers containing saved passwords, browser sessions, cookies, and more. They’re sold in bulk on markets like RussianMarket or 2easy. For as little as $10, a threat actor could buy their way into your network.

Figure 2: Browser data in a stealer log showing phone numbers, dates of birth, usernames, and passwords; Source: DarkOwl Vision

What’s worse? You don’t always know what those credentials unlock. Access to email? Internal tools? Sensitive databases?

Monitoring these stealer log sites is no longer optional—it’s a critical step in stopping ransomware and unauthorized access before it starts.

3. Someone on the Inside Might Be Selling Access

This is every security leader’s nightmare: an insider selling access to their own company’s systems.

Disgruntled employees, ex-contractors, or even someone in financial distress may post offers like:

“Access to large healthcare org. Admin rights. Serious buyers only.”

Not all insider threats are intentional. Sometimes, an employee unknowingly becomes a risk—by being too trusting or unaware of security policies. Others may be driven by resentment, especially in today’s environment where layoffs are frequent and workloads increase for those who remain.

The bottom line? Insider threats are incredibly hard to detect until it’s too late. Monitoring the dark web for chatter about your company can give you a head start in spotting them.

Why it matters: These posts often appear just before a ransomware attack or data leak. The longer you stay unaware, the bigger the damage.

4. Are Your Products Being Counterfeited?

Copyright law isn’t the most exciting topic, but it becomes very real when your products start showing up as fakes online.

If you ever plan to take legal action for copyright violations, one of the first questions a court will ask is: What steps did your company take to protect and enforce the copyright?

That’s why big brands like the NFL send teams to sniff out counterfeit goods during events like the Super Bowl.

The dark web is a known hub for counterfeit products. You can find knockoff software, clothing, purses—even security tools—for under $20.

Figure 3: Darknet marketplace advertisement for counterfeit Rolex watch for $4500 USD

If your brand relies on copyrighted products or content, darknet monitoring is a smart move. It strengthens internal investigations, arms your legal team with evidence, and shows the courts you’re actively enforcing your rights.