Recently, there has been an increase in malware and hacking tools available on the Dark Web, with an increasing number of providers offering tools to target specific industries.
According to a study conducted by cybersecurity firm Bromium in collaboration with forensic scientists from the University of Surrey, the Dark Web is rapidly becoming a significant source of specialized malware.
In many cases, Dark Web vendors demonstrated such a good knowledge of email systems, networks, and even cybersecurity protocols thatit raised concerns among researchers about security at some companies.
Mike McGuire, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Surrey, said: “What surprised me was the extent to which someone could obtain malware that targets a business, even obtaining operational data about the business.”.
Professor McGuire and his team contacted around 30 sellers on Dark Web sites, either through a forum, emailor encrypted channels, and their findings were analysed in the report Behind the Dark Net Black Mirror.
According to the study, since 2016 there has been a 20% increase in Dark Web websites selling tools for targeting companies.
Malware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks account for nearly half of the attacks offered on these sites. A quarter of the listings offered malware, and one in five offered DDoS and botnet services. Other common services sold to target businesses include espionage tools, such as remote access Trojans and keyloggers.
