[Beginner Guide] What Is Dark Web Monitoring? 

If you are curious about Dark Web Monitoring, don’t miss this blog. We’re going to take you on a journey to explore that dark world and explain everything you need to know about Dark Web Monitoring, especially detailing to you how it can play a role in online security protection. Keep reading!

What Is Dark Web Monitoring?

Dark Web Monitoring is, in essence, a tool or service that allows you to detect early personal info leaks on the Dark Web and act quickly to prevent further digital asset infringement. To understand it further, we must first grasp the concept – what is the Dark Web?

What Is the Dark Web?

Just think of the Internet as a spectacular iceberg, above the sea, the visible and easily accessible part is the Surface Web, which contains all the web pages that we access often, like social media, news, and gaming platforms.

Under the surface of the iceberg, there is a much larger section: the Deep Web. It contains countless pages that ordinary search engines cannot index, like your private emails, school databases, and the internal system of a company. Although not as open to the public as the Surface Web, the Deep Web content is usually legitimate but requires the proper permissions or steps to access, such as entering a password.

The Dark Web is a branch of the Deep Web, like those hidden crevices deep inside the iceberg. Info here can’t be located via ordinary search engines and must be accessed via special tunnels, such as the Tor browser. Because of its secrecy, the Dark Web has become a gray area of mixed activities. Here you can find journalists or whistleblowers who communicate and share info securely, also a plethora of illegal activities, ranging from malware distribution, fraud, drug/gun dealing, kidnapping, and even murder-for-hire.

For ordinary people like you and me, the biggest threat to the dark web is data leakage. Personal info, business data, and even sensitive government data stolen by unscrupulous individuals in various cyberattacks are sold or exchanged on the Dark Web. These data packets can then be used for identity theft, fraud, and other illegal purposes, resulting in serious privacy violations and economic losses.

To counter this threat, Dark Web Monitoring was created. It’s just like a detective you hire, constantly patrolling the dark alleys and checking every hidden corner. If someone attempts to trade or publicly disclose your details on the Dark Web, the tool will alert you swiftly so that you can take timely action to prevent further infringement of your privacy and property.

How Does Our Info Get into the Dark Web?

In most cases, our sensitive data will be collected by criminals via the methods below:

・Security Holes: If you don’t update your software or system in time, crooks can use specific toolkits to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access to your devices.

・Public Wi-Fi: When you connect to public Wi-Fi without any protection, hackers can easily intercept the data transmitted by the device and logs.

・Data Leakage: Sometimes, companies and websites have insufficient security measures, so hackers can steal user data via system vulnerabilities or incorrect settings.

・Phishing: Criminals design emails or websites that mimic legitimate entities, like banks or popular apps, to trick you into entering personal info.

・Malware: Visiting insecure pages can let you unintentionally download malicious software, like keyloggers and screen grabbers, which silently record your online data in the background.

・Scams: Scammers will pretend to be tech support or company employees and trick you into handing over your info defenselessly over the phone or via email.

・Data Recovery: If old devices are not properly wiped or are stolen, malicious people can recover and gain access to all the data.

After criminals obtain your digital identity, they usually package and sell it on the Dark Web. These packets are known as Fullz on the Dark Web, and prices vary depending on market demand and the value of the victim’s assets.

Why Should We Use Dark Web Monitoring?

Once personal or business data is exposed on the Dark Web, it poses serious threats.

Therefore, regular Dark Web Monitoring is extremely important. High-quality Dark Web Monitoring services can help us detect info leakage in time and take immediate remedial measures, thus effectively avoiding the damages mentioned above.

How Does Dark Web Monitoring Work?

Dark Web Monitoring is a delicate, long-term service, and the workflow often involves multiple steps:

Step 1. Info collection: Users must bind the info they wanna monitor to the service provider first. The common types include email, cell phone number, bank card number, etc.

Step 2. Continuous Scanning: Then, the Dark Web Monitoring tool will automatically continuously conduct a full scan in all corners of the Dark Web. This includes various forums, black markets, and chat groups, looking for any traces related to the relevant binding info.

Step 3. Data Matching: While scanning, the Dark Web Monitoring will match the detected data with the user’s previous bindings.

Step 4. Real-time Alerts: Once the match is successful, the tool will immediately send out an alert to notify the user.

It is through the above process that Dark Web Monitoring services can help users proactively prevent cyber threats and protect important personal and financial info.

Introduction: X-VPN Dark Web Monitor

Though X-VPN is dedicated to offering top-notch VPN services, the surge in spam and frequent personal privacy breaches has made protecting digital identities a pressing concern. 

Therefore, in order to offer you more comprehensive online protection, X-VPN has launched three new privacy & security solutions: Safe Browsing, Computer Security, and Identity Protection. One of the new key features is the Dark Web Monitor.

X-VPN Dark Web Monitor allows you to bind up to 5 email addresses and use them as credentials to monitor the exposure of your personal info on the Dark Web in real time. As soon as any sign of credential leakage is detected, X-VPN will immediately alert you in the app: the accounts you registered with that email on specific websites, along with associated sensitive info – like your phone number, real addresses, bank card number, and social media accounts – have been exposed on the Dark Web.

This way, you can take quick action to change your account passwords and prevent further privacy breaches and property loss.

The Features of the X-VPN Dark Web Monitor

Comprehensive Monitoring: Highly accurate scanning technology is used to cover the entire darknet, ensuring that no corner is left untouched.

Real-time Scanning: X-VPN Dark Web Monitor operates constantly in the background, scanning the darknet in real-time to prevent any criminal activities from succeeding.

Timely Alerts: If your information is found on the Dark Web, X-VPN will quickly notify you and provide you with appropriate reports.

Multi-functional Integration: VPN, Ad Blocker, Tracker Blocker, Download Protection, Malicious Website Blocker, and Storage Cleanup are all integrated into one premium subscription to provide comprehensive online security.

Simply click the button below to unlock the X-VPN Dark Web Monitor and all other advanced features for as low as $2.99/mo. If you’re not satisfied for any reason, you can get a full refund within 30 days of starting your subscription!

How to Use Dark Web Monitoring?

Now it’s time to learn how to use Dark Web Monitoring – we will use X-VPN for Windows as the demo tool.

Step 1. Buy X-VPN Premium and download the app on your Windows PC.

Step 2. Launch X-VPN and head to the Dark Web Monitor section on the sidebar.

Step 3. Click the Add button to bind your email addresses. X-VPN can monitor a maximum of 5 mailboxes.

Step 4. Once the link is successful, X-VPN Dark Web Monitor will continue to work and send you alerts if it notices any leaks. You can view all alert reports and archived logs at any time in the app, and add or remove tied emails by tapping Edit.

What Should You Do After Getting an Alert?

If you receive an alert from X-VPN Dark Web Monitor after binding your email, don’t hesitate to take the following steps to block further security crises.

Pro Tip: How to Achieve Better Online Security?

By now, I believe you have gained an in-depth understanding of the functions of Dark Web Monitoring and learned how to respond quickly in case of a privacy breach.

However, Dark Web Monitoring is just an alarm and cannot prevent your info from leaking on the Dark Web at the source. But don’t worry, that’s exactly what X-VPN’s core service, VPN, is best at solving.

As one of the best weapons for protecting your privacy, the VPN service utilizes top AES-256 encryption tech to ensure that your online data cannot be read by unverified third parties, keeping your info safe wherever you are, even if you’re using public Wi-Fi.

And when you connect to any VPN server, your online data is routed through it, ensuring that your digital identity is protected. X-VPN’s global network of 8,000+ servers provides you with massive fake IPs for anonymous, secure access to a wide range of international resources.

And if you’re a Windows PC user, the additional security tools provided by X-VPN are extremely useful: Tracker Blocker can prevent third parties from collecting your details; Ad Blocker and Malicious Website Blocker can protect you from phishing; and Download Protection can isolate and scans downloaded files in advance to prevent malware from invading your device.

With the help of VPN encryption and security tools, X-VPN minimizes the chances of your personal info reaching the dark web. Combined with Dark Web Monitor, your online privacy and security are best protected.

What’s the best, there are no additional costs to worry about – both the Dark Web Monitor, VPN service, and all advanced features are integrated into one X-VPN premium plan. You can choose the most cost-effective two-year plan for only $2.99/mo, or try X-VPN for a month at $11.99. Sure, all plans bought on the web support a 30-day refund policy!

Conclusion

Dark Web Monitoring is a security service or tool designed to protect your personal data and identity on the Dark Web. Among many products, we suggest using X-VPN, which provides you with a high-quality Dark Web monitoring service and offers top VPN encryption and additional security features to minimize the possibility of your personal privacy leakage from the source.

FAQs