Navigating the Cyber Landscape: Strategies and Capabilities of Iran, China, North Korea and Russia

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

Since the dawn of the internet thirty years ago, its underpinning technology and networks have been adopted and used by billions of people worldwide. This includes academic and medical institutions sharing cutting-edge research at lightning speed, social platforms meant to engage communities and share photos, memories, and culture, as well as its use by our governments, commerce, and work environments – the internet enters every part of our lives.

However, along with all the good the internet has brought, there are unfortunately a multitude of malicious actors who operate on the internet and in the cyber realm. They conduct espionage, steal data, attempt to infiltrate, and shut down systems critical to everyday life: water and power supplies, financial infrastructure, the medical sector, and more. As of late, the medical sector has been a prominent target, facing attacks from actors trying to disrupt treatment and hospital systems crucial for patient care.

Since the start of notable cyber operations and programs circa the early 2000s, the United States and its Western allies consistently identify four primary nation-state adversaries in cyber: Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea, or “The Big 4.”

Each country covered in this paper has military and civilian intelligence services that conduct cyber operations. Their specific strengths and skills vary, but they all have a common goal: to establish a new digital and physical world order in which they are the global leader.

Have any questions for our team? Interested in learning how our analyst team can help your research and investigations? Contact us.

Dark Web Investigations: Uncovering the Hidden Web

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

September 27, 2023

DarkOwl is the darknet expert and our customizable service options allow customers to leverage our in-house expertise to save time, keep their employees safe, and fulfill the need for actionable threat intelligence. This infographic outlines several aspects of DarkOwl’s dark web investigations.

View full infographic.

Learn more about DarkOwl’s Darknet Services options.

A Digital Taliban: Governing and Spying under the Taliban Regime, 2 Years Later

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

In just under two decades, the Taliban has evolved from insurgents to a hardline ruling group who use social media and technology to suppress the population of Afghanistan. The conservative Muslim group who once banned the internet in 2001 has now harnessed it, prolifically using apps and social media platforms to recruit new members, spread its politics, threaten those speaking out against it, and spy on its own citizens. Highlights in this report from the DarkOwl analyst team include:

  • The Taliban has evolved from an internet-banning insurgency to a hardline ruling group who harness technology to recruit new members, spread its politics, threaten those speaking out against it, and spy on its own citizens. It also uses the internet to attempt to influence international opinion about its rule.
  • As the Taliban establishes its online presence, policy makers and tech experts must work to influence the Taliban to keep the internet open and keep its citizens connected. This is a tough task considering the Taliban’s ideology as well as the practices of surrounding countries, most of which are authoritarian governments with little focus on human rights and free speech. 
  • The world must fight against an isolated Afghanistan, as the Taliban present one public reality which differs vastly from actual daily life and cannot leave Afghan citizens to suffer while also experiencing the brutality of these fundamentalists.

Have any questions for our team? Interested in learning how our analyst team can help your research and investigations? Contact us.

Examination of the Darknet Exposure of Top Supply Chain Technology Vendors

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

August, 2023

Using DarkOwl’s leading darknet data product, Vision UI, DarkOwl analysts were able to search across the darknet and darknet adjacent sites to uncover and examine the darknet exposure of five top supply chain vendors. Supply chain attacks, also referred to as value-chain or third-party attacks, are industry-agnostic cybersecurity attacks that cause damage and destruction to an organization when an outside partner or provider compromises less secure elements in the organization’s supply chain. Vision UI provides the largest commercially available source of darknet data, allowing for powerful querying capabilities to search, monitor and create alerts for critical infrastructure. Outlined in this report are the findings of this research.

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Forecasting Cyber Threats

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

June 13, 2023

The darknet contains data critical to understanding criminal behavior and security risk, and companies need an understanding of their exposure on the darknet to determine risk and take mitigating actions. 

This report outlines DarkOwl’s new metric based on email and credential volume to measure an organization’s exposure. We tested our metric against 237 public cyberattacks occurring in 2021 and 2022 and found our signal was elevated within the last four months prior to an attack for 74% of the organizations. 

To learn more how DarkSonar can inform threat modeling, third party risk management, cyber insurance, and potentially predict cyber threats, contact us.

Cyber Risk Modeling

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

May, 2023

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in global cyberattacks, with reports indicating that overall attacks were up 38% in 2022 from years previous. In the USA alone there was a 57% increase, while the UK experienced a 77% increase in cyberattacks. Many of these attacks result in data breaches and ransomware attacks, which cost organizations time and money, as well as long term negative effects such as loss of reputation. 

On top of this, the average cost of a data breach has reached a record high of $4.35 million. The cost of a ransomware attack is $4.54 million, on average, not including the cost of a ransom payment. With cyberattacks on the rise, organizations need better intelligence to enable them to model risk and take mitigating actions, particularly small businesses which are three times more likely to be a target of a cyberattack.

Darknet data is a key source of insight into criminal and other nefarious activity. The darknet—or dark web as it is also referred to—is a layer of the internet that cannot be accessed by traditional browsers. Sensitive corporate information is regularly leaked or sold on the darknet. These sets of darknet data can be used to identify cybersecurity threats and calculate organizational risk. Understanding risk enables an organization to better be prepared for potential threats.

Contact us today to learn how to monitor your darknet exposure.

Track Your Relative Risk on the Darknet

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

May, 2023

With cyberattacks increasingly on the rise, organizations need better intelligence to safeguard themselves, employees and customers from incidents such as data breaches and ransomware attacks. This rise in illicit cyber activity only increases the need to protect against and determine the likelihood of these attacks.

Cue DarkSonar – DarkOwl’s latest product that serves as a relative risk rating that considers the nature, extent and severity of credential leakage on the darknet to provide a company with a signal that acts as a measurement for a company’s exposure.

In this webinar, attendees:

  • Reviewed the latest stats around the growth of cyberattacks
  • Learned why modeling risk is essential for all organizations of any size
  • Learned how DarkSonar can inform threat modeling, third party risk management, and cyber insurance
  • Saw first hand how DarkSonar can potentially predict the likelihood of cyberattacks

For those that would rather read the presentation, we have transcribed it below. Or, watch on YouTube.

NOTE: Some content has been edited for length and clarity.

Interested in learning how DarkSonar can help alert for potential threats to your organization? Contact us.

Password Hygiene and Awareness

Written by DarkOwl Content Team on . Posted in Whitepapers.

May 08, 2023

In honor of this month’s World Password Day, the DarkOwl data team took a look at how different password trends and hygiene has evolved over the past year. In doing so we found that many people are still making common password mistakes, such as using their favorite year or using highly popular (and crackable) strings of characters like “123456”. This infographic breaks down some of these trends. You can check out the full blog here.

Questions on how darknet data applies to your use case specifically? Contact us!

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DarkOwl is a Denver-based company that provides the world’s largest index of darknet content and the tools to efficiently find leaked or otherwise compromised sensitive data. We shorten the timeframe to detection of compromised data on the darknet, empowering organizations to swiftly detect security gaps and mitigate damage prior to misuse of their data.