Dark web data theft may have finally met its match

The internet is like an iceberg. What you see on its surface is only a fraction of what’s out there; the websites you see online through Chrome, Safari and Firefox are simply what floats above the surface. Below lies the real danger, the dark web.

The dark web is so dangerous because, for those who know how to access the dark web, it can be a gateway into buying simply more than drugs. It’s a space where information can be bought or sold, and it’s usually sensitive personal information that could blow a company-wide open. That’s why Fujitsu has teamed up with Israeli security company IntSights to help combat the effects of being exposed on the dark web.

The initiative, demoed at this year’s Fujitsu Forum in Tokyo, allows users to monitors terms and slices of their sensitive information, flagging whenever there’s a match in the data available for sale on the dark web. While IntSights develops the programme, Fujitsu’s role in the partnership comes into play when that data is flagged online.

Because it’s almost impossible to ensure that information on the dark web isn’t used for malicious reasons, the solution is to mitigate against that damage. One part of that comes from Fujitsu’s other data protection and security services, but thanks to IntSights’ involvement they can now actively defend against known data leaks almost as soon as they crop up for sale on the dark web.

A Google Analytics-like dashboard allows at-a-glance information around what’s been detected online. The information shown ranges from something as low-level as a company Facebook or Twitter page login cropping up, all the way to high-level data breaches of employee or customer data.

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The software itself is IntSights’ product, and most smaller-sized businesses will surely head straight to them for the solution. Where Fujitsu comes in is by scaling it up into a larger client base via integration into its end-to-end security systems. By bringing dark web insights to a far bigger list of clients like banks and global multi-billion corporations, the impact of the dark web’s information trading hubs diminishes.

Instead of chasing down the individuals selling the information on the dark web, Fujitsu and IntSights are simply devaluing that data. By reacting proactively against the data link before it’s been sold on and exploited, the information is essentially worthless to a buyer. It’s still a cat-and-mouse situation where enterprises are chasing after those stealing the information in the first place, but now any would-be data thief has to wonder if it’s really even worth stealing the information in the first place.