The Top 11 Dark Web Monitoring Solutions
Discover the top dark web monitoring solutions on the market based on their key features, use cases, and pricing.
Written by Alex Zawalnyski
Technical Review by Laura Iannini
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CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon
Dark web monitoring solutions continuously scan the dark web to find leaked data following a data breach, and instances of your organization’s details being used fraudulently. They can also scan forums to find information regarding planned attacks and known exploits affecting your organization. You can then use this information to bolster your cybersecurity defenses and patch any vulnerabilities before they can be used in an attack.
A robust dark web monitoring solution should allow you wide visibility into the dark web, without your IT or security staff venturing into it themselves. This prevents admins from putting themselves at risk or having to be exposed to elicit and dangerous content. To achieve this, the solution should flag keywords relevant to your organization. You are then able to monitor the threat as it evolves, to ensure you can respond appropriately.
There isn’t a single dark web monitoring solution for all use cases; some are fully automated, some require a team of experts to run, and some utilize ML and AI to provide relevant insights and recommendations.
In this guide, we explore some of the top dark web monitoring solutions and focus on key features, subscription options, and who they’re best suited for.
Flare
Flare is a comprehensive SaaS-based dark web monitoring and cyber threat intelligence solution. It continuously monitors the dark web, cybercriminal chat groups on Telegram, and other sources of risk, providing structured threat insights in an easy-to-understand format.
Why We Picked Flare: We like Flare’s extensive coverage and its ability to deploy in just 15-30 minutes. The platform’s intuitive admin console offers real-time alerts and AI-based takedown capabilities.
Flare’s Standout Features: Flare archives billions of data points from hundreds of dark websites, thousands of cybercrime Telegram channels, and credential dumps. Key features include real-time alerts, AI-based takedown capabilities, detailed event information, exposure metrics, and trend tracking. The platform integrates with existing security systems to enhance threat detection and response.
What’s Great:
- Comprehensive coverage across the dark web and cybercriminal channels
- Easy deployment and intuitive user interface
- Real-time alerts and AI-driven risk mitigation
- Detailed exposure metrics and historical data tracking
- Customizable reports and multiple configuration options
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Flare’s official website.
Best Suited For: Flare is ideal for organizations of all sizes seeking comprehensive dark web monitoring with world-class coverage within an easy-to-use package. It is particularly beneficial for those needing rapid deployment and intuitive threat management tools.
Flare
IDAgent’s DarkWebID is a dark web monitoring and analysis solution that scans for compromised user credentials, providing validated alerts and intelligence to mitigate potential security threats. It continuously monitors dark web marketplaces, data dumps, and other sources for mentions of an organization’s credentials, domains, email addresses, and IP addresses, alerting promptly when dangers are detected.
Why We Picked DarkWebID: We appreciate DarkWebID’s quick deployment and ease of ongoing management, making it a user-friendly and efficient choice for secure data surveillance.
DarkWebID Best Features: Key features include continuous monitoring of dark web sources, validated alerts for compromised data, integration with popular PSA platforms, and both SaaS and API deployment options. These features ensure streamlined alerting and mitigation processes, allowing teams to react swiftly to potential security breaches.
What’s Great:
- Provides early warnings to prevent damage from breaches
- Leverages both human expertise and machine learning for accurate detection
- Out-of-the-box integration with PSA platforms for efficient management
- Immediate monitoring upon installation, no extra hardware or software required
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit IDAgent’s website directly.
Who it’s for: DarkWebID is well-suited for organizations of all sizes seeking a proactive solution to identify and mitigate data leaks effectively.
NordStellar’s Dark Web Monitoring solution actively scans the dark web for keywords linked to your organization, providing timely alerts to facilitate effective remediation. Developed by Nord Security, the creators of NordVPN and NordLocker, NordStellar leverages extensive cybersecurity experience to offer a robust dark web monitoring tool.
Why We Picked NordStellar: We appreciate NordStellar’s automated scans that enhance employee, brand, and corporate security without requiring additional time investment. The platform’s custom word searching feature allows for targeted monitoring of data associated with your organization.
NordStellar Dark Web Monitoring Best Features: The solution offers real-time monitoring of forums, search engines, and marketplaces on the dark web. It provides detailed insights into past exploitations, enabling more robust security planning. Additional features include account takeover and session hijacking prevention, as well as customizable keyword searches.
What’s great:
- Automated scans reduce risk without increasing workload
- Detailed insights into past vulnerabilities
- Customizable keyword searches for targeted monitoring
- Extends threat exposure management with account takeover and session hijacking prevention
Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact NordStellar directly.
Who it’s for: NordStellar is ideal for SMBs and mid-market organizations seeking to enhance their threat prevention coverage and manage dark web exposure effectively.
ManageEngine Log360, part of Zoho Corp, integrates dark web monitoring into its SIEM platform through a partnership with Constella Intelligence. This solution enhances threat detection and incident response across cloud, on-premise, and hybrid networks.
Why We Picked ManageEngine Log360: We appreciate Log360’s ability to correlate dark web monitoring alerts with broader vulnerability management, reducing alert fatigue across platforms. Its comprehensive approach to threat detection using VigilIQ’s anomaly detection and rule-based techniques is also noteworthy.
ManageEngine Log360 Best Features: Key features include dark web scanning for leaked credentials, anomaly detection, rule-based attack detection, and real-time threat intelligence. Integrations include seamless compatibility with existing vulnerability management systems, and the incident management console offers detailed tracking of MTTR and MTTD, along with customizable correlation rules.
What’s great:
- Unified SIEM platform integrates dark web monitoring effectively
- Reduces alert fatigue by correlating events within the broader security stack
- Tracks key incident response metrics like MTTR and MTTD
- Scans for supply chain-related dark web risks
What to consider:
- Not a dedicated dark web monitoring solution, but part of a broader SIEM platform
Pricing: For pricing details, visit ManageEngine’s official website.
Who it’s for: ManageEngine Log360 is ideal for organizations seeking to enhance their SIEM capabilities with dark web monitoring, particularly those managing complex, hybrid IT environments.
CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon
CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon provides real-time dark web scanning to give businesses visibility into digital threats while safeguarding the company’s brand and reputation. It monitors dark web forums, marketplaces, and social media channels to notify administrators of high-risk activity.
Why We Picked CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon: We like the in-depth intelligence it delivers alongside its dark web monitoring capabilities. It also offers a managed service, Falcon Intelligence Recon+, which leverages CrowdStrike’s expertise to protect against digital threats.
CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon Best Features: Features include real-time notifications for high-risk activity, automatic addressing of exposed login credentials through CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection, identification of fraudulent domains and phishing emails, and weekly cybercrime reports. Integrations include CrowdStrike Falcon Identity Protection.
What’s great:
- Improves situational awareness of the threat landscape
- Helps prioritize vulnerabilities based on real-life exploits and threat research
- Exposes malicious activity beyond the perimeter
- Offers a managed service option for enhanced protection
What to consider:
- Some features may depend on integration with other CrowdStrike solutions
Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact CrowdStrike directly.
Who it’s for: CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon is a strong solution for organizations of any size looking to safeguard their data, identities, and brand from digital threats.
CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon
CYRISMA
CYRISMA is a dark web monitoring tool designed to help organizations track their sensitive information on the dark web, enabling them to identify data breaches and predict and prevent potential attacks.
Why We Picked CYRISMA: We appreciate CYRISMA’s continuous monitoring and instant reporting capabilities, which facilitate fast and effective dark web investigations.
CYRISMA Best Features: The platform scans dark web data points every 24 hours to detect compromised information related to your organization or its customers. It monitors discussions about your brand on unindexed online activity and criminal forums. Features include real-time email notifications for dark web activity and a built-in translator for monitoring foreign language discussions.
What’s great:
- Provides early warnings about data leaks for timely threat response
- Enables swift action to mitigate risks through continuous monitoring
- Assists in fine-tuning incident response strategies
- Offers insights into how compromised information may be misused
Pricing: For pricing details, contact CYRISMA directly.
Who it’s for: CYRISMA is best suited for organizations seeking a standalone dark web monitoring solution that offers quick and effective insights into potential cyber risks.
CYRISMA
Flashpoint Ignite
Flashpoint Ignite is a comprehensive threat intelligence solution that assists cybersecurity, fraud, and physical security teams in detecting, prioritizing, and remediating risks. It gathers threat information from various sources, including social media, chat services, and the deep and dark web, to provide actionable insights.
Why We Picked Flashpoint Ignite: We appreciate the depth of intelligence provided by Flashpoint’s analyst team, supported by over two petabytes of threat data. The platform’s ability to offer tailored information and threat response support is a significant advantage.
Flashpoint Ignite Best Features: Key features include extensive data collection on ransomware groups, identity fraud, and stolen credentials. The solution leverages analytics, AI, and machine learning to track and remediate threats effectively. Integrations include support for custom requests and threat readiness support from Flashpoint’s team of over 100 analysts.
What’s great:
- Delivers timely and actionable intelligence
- Supported by a large team of expert analysts
- Enhances ability to combat various cyber threats
- Offers tailored information based on user requests
Pricing: For pricing details, contact Flashpoint directly.
Who it’s for: Flashpoint Ignite is best suited for organizations seeking advanced threat intelligence with the guidance of a dedicated analyst team, particularly those dealing with data theft, payment fraud, and account takeovers.
Flashpoint Ignite
Fortra PhishLabs
Fortra’s PhishLabs delivers expert-curated intelligence and dark web monitoring to safeguard digital and physical assets. It proactively identifies potential threats on the dark web, mitigating financial and reputational damage and data theft.
Why We Picked Fortra’s PhishLabs: We appreciate the solution’s blend of automated detection and expert human analysis, providing comprehensive threat intelligence.
Fortra’s PhishLabs Best Features: PhishLabs monitors dark web marketplaces for stolen data and criminal activity. Fortra’s analysts link data points to threat actor personas, enabling ongoing surveillance. Key capabilities include preventing the sale of PII, source code exploitation, and malware distribution. Integrations include seamless data sharing with existing security systems.
What’s great:
- Combines automated detection with expert human analysis
- Monitors dark web marketplaces for stolen data and criminal activity
- Provides high-value intelligence by linking data to threat actors
- Helps prevent the sale of PII and distribution of malware
Pricing: For detailed pricing information, contact Fortra directly.
Who it’s for: Fortra’s PhishLabs is ideal for organizations seeking a human and intelligence-led approach to dark web monitoring, especially those focused on protecting against data theft and financial damage.
Fortra PhishLabs
Recorded Future Intelligence Platform
Recorded Future Intelligence Platform is a threat intelligence solution that helps organizations identify, profile, and mitigate cyber risks, focusing on proprietary data, lost credentials, and corporate identity theft. It monitors mentions of your company, brands, or infrastructure to predict and prevent future data breaches.
Why We Picked Recorded Future Intelligence Platform: We like its ability to uncover new and emerging threats across the globe that may be relevant to your business. The platform automatically identifies relevant exploit chatter from the dark web, helping you prioritize remediation efforts based on adversary intent or capabilities.
Recorded Future Intelligence Platform Best Features: Features include machine learning and natural language processing to analyze dark web data, automatic identification of exploit chatter, tracking of malicious actors and criminal communities as they change their infrastructure, and deep analysis capabilities for 12 languages. Integrations include the ability to monitor mentions of your company, brands, or infrastructure across various sources.
What’s great:
- Uncovers new and emerging threats relevant to your business
- Automatically identifies relevant exploit chatter from the dark web
- Tracks malicious actors as they change their infrastructure
- Provides deep analysis in multiple languages
Pricing: For pricing details, contact Recorded Future directly.
Who it’s for: Recorded Future Intelligence Platform is best suited for organizations of any size looking to identify instances of data theft and fraud online, as well as those wanting to proactively stay ahead of new and emerging threats.
Recorded Future Intelligence Platform
ReliaQuest GreyMatter
ReliaQuest GreyMatter Digital Risk Protection (DRP) offers comprehensive dark web monitoring to safeguard organizations’ assets and mitigate threats. This service, part of the broader GreyMatter security operations platform, monitors open, deep, and dark web sources to protect against identity theft, phishing, and impersonation attacks.
Why We Picked ReliaQuest GreyMatter DRP: We appreciate its extensive database of over 15 billion breached credentials, which instantly identifies potential exploitations. Additionally, its ability to detect and mitigate domain infringements enhances brand protection.
ReliaQuest GreyMatter DRP Best Features: Key features include monitoring the dark web for stolen intellectual property and insider threats, tracking mentions of an organization’s name and assets, and protecting against phishing and impersonation. It also detects domain infringements like typo and domain squats, and spoofed social media profiles and mobile applications. The platform integrates seamlessly with existing security operations stacks to improve visibility and provide valuable insights.
What’s great:
- Instantly identifies potential exploitations with a vast database of breached credentials
- Protects brands by detecting and mitigating domain infringements
- Seamless integration with existing security operations
- Monitors for insider threats and premeditated attacks
- Safeguards against identity theft and impersonation
Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact ReliaQuest directly.
Who it’s for: ReliaQuest GreyMatter DRP is ideal for organizations of any size seeking robust dark web monitoring as part of a comprehensive security operations platform, enhancing visibility across their enterprise ecosystem.
ReliaQuest GreyMatter
ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring
ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring provides comprehensive visibility into dark web communications, enabling organizations to detect data leaks and potential attacks. This service continuously collects and analyzes raw intelligence from the dark web in real time, using a combination of human and artificial intelligence.
Why We Picked ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring: We like that ZeroFox offers not only threat identification but also remediation support. Its operatives provide unique access to intelligence and guidance on mitigating threats.
ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring Best Features: The service monitors channels such as TOR, I2P, ZeroNet, Telegram, Discord, and IRC, searching for sensitive materials related to your organization. It provides detailed alerts on compromised credentials, credit card details, PII, bank accounts, and covert communication threads. ZeroFox operatives, with their experience in covert tradecraft, offer remediation recommendations through a user-friendly interface.
What’s great:
- Immediate activation of remediation services or Requests for Information (RFI)
- Detailed alerts enable timely, informed decisions
- Access to operatives with global cybercriminal relationships
- User-friendly interface for single-click actions
Pricing: For pricing details, visit ZeroFox directly.
Who it’s for: ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring is best suited for organizations that need to identify stolen information and potential threats, and would benefit from human support and guidance in threat remediation.
ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring
Dark Web Monitoring: Everything You Need To Know (FAQs)
What Is The Dark Web?
The internet has multiple layers. The layer that the majority of us access through internet browsers and connected applications is known as the “surface web” or the “visible web”. This layer is indexed by search engines. Surprisingly, it accounts for only 5% of the entire web.
The next layer is the deep web, which isn’t indexed by search engines. This makes content on the deep web much more difficult to find and access, as you need to know a page’s exact URL to find it. Content on the deep web typically includes password-protected content, storage areas, and gated content.
The final layer is the dark web, which requires the use of specialist router technology or search engine to access. These routers anonymize access, protecting the identities of people who visit the dark web, including activists and political actors who use the dark web to protect them from persecution, and criminals using it to trade weapons, drugs, and information. Commonly, threat actors use dark web marketplaces to sell compromised account credentials, credit card details, addresses, and social security numbers – often without their victims’ knowing that their data was ever stolen.
What Is A Dark Web Monitoring Service?
A crucial part of information security involves identifying whether any of your organization’s data is being shared or sold. If it is, you can find the source of the issue and remediate it.
For example, if you discover that your users’ passwords are being sold on the dark web, you can reset all passwords (either manually or using a password manager), preventing malicious actors from gaining access to a user’s account and stealing company data.
Dark web monitoring tools allow you to do this by:
- Scanning the dark web for mentions of your company, fraudulent use of your company’s name, and sensitive data or intellectual property that may have been stolen in a data breach
- Monitoring criminal forums to discover mentions of any loopholes or vulnerabilities within your security
- Identifying the development of new and emerging attack methods that may impact your organization
This saves you from sending your IT or security staff into the dark web themselves, preventing them from putting themselves at risk or having to be exposed to illicit and dangerous content.
How Do Dark Web Monitoring Tools Work?
Dark web monitoring tools deliver a multi-stage cycle to identify and remediate data risk. This cycle includes:
- Dark web scanning: The tool continuously scans the dark web to identify mentions of your company and its data.
- Data identification: The tool identifies what the data is, how wide the scope of the data breach is, and what type of data has been compromised, including stolen credentials, bank accounts, financial accounts, trade secrets, and personal information leaks that impact your customers or employees.
- Alerting: The tool sends dark web alerts to your security team that explain what it’s discovered and how they should remediate the issue.
- Reporting: The tool compiles comprehensive reports that highlight any vulnerabilities that you need to address.
- Repeat: As this is an ongoing process, the tool will continue to scan the dark web for more leaked data or attack indicators so you can proactively mitigate threats as they’re discovered.
The Best Dark Web Monitoring Solutions: Shortlist FAQs
Why should you trust this Shortlist?
This article was written by Alex Zawalnyski, the Copy Manager at Expert Insights, who works alongside software experts to research, write, fact-check, and edit articles relating to B2B cyber security and technology solutions. This article has been technically reviewed by our technical researcher, Laura Iannini, who has experience with a range of cybersecurity platforms and conducts thorough product tests to ensure that Expert Insights’ reviews are definitive and insightful.
Research for this guide included:
- Conducting first-hand technical reviews and testing of several leading dark web monitoring providers
- Interviewing executives in the dark web monitoring space, as well as the wider Data Loss Prevention (DLP) industry, for first-hand insight into the challenges and strengths of different solutions
- Researching and demoing solutions in the dark web monitoring space and wider DLP security categories over several years
- Speaking to several organizations of all sizes about their dark web monitoring challenges and the features that are most useful to them
- Reading third-party and customer reviews from multiple outlets, including paid industry reports
This guide is updated at least every 3 months to review the vendors included and ensure that the features listed are up to date.
Who is this Shortlist for?
We recommend that all organizations consider implementing a solution that will help them identify and remediate data loss. This list has therefore been written with a broad audience in mind.
How was the Shortlist picked?
When considering dark web monitoring solutions, we evaluated providers based on the following criteria:
Features: Based on conversations with vendors, end customers, and our own testing, we selected the following key features:
- Threat hunting: Dark web monitoring tools should proactively hunt for stolen data, and threats and risks that affect your network.
- Wide visibility: Dark web monitoring platforms must provide broad visibility to give users the best chance of identifying their data and references to their company on forums, chatrooms, marketplaces, and messaging apps. Some tools in this Shortlist combine dark web monitoring with social media monitoring.
- Continuous monitoring: The platform should monitor the dark web 24/7 to identify its customer’s information as soon as possible. With attacks happening across the globe all the time, threat hunting cannot be limited to office hours.
- Analysis: The solution should have crawlers, scrapers, and scanners that analyze content and assess the risk to its customer’s business in real time. This may provide an understanding of how a data breach occurred or how one is likely to occur in the future.
- Actionable alerts: Dark web monitoring solutions should have an efficient way of alerting admins to any relevant updates. The alerts should convey as much information as possible, whilst enabling admins to react quickly.
- Reports: Dark web monitoring solutions should calculate a risk score that enables users to monitor the security of specific assets and implement more stringent security measures where relevant.
- Facilitated response: While not all dark web monitoring solutions have the capability to remediate threats from within the platform, at a minimum they should integrate with their customer’s wider security stack to facilitate and coordinate this response. Some solutions may be able to remove harmful content, but this is not the case for all products.
Market perception: We reviewed each vendor included on the Shortlist to ensure they are reliable, trusted providers in the market. We reviewed their documentation, third-party analyst reports, and—where possible—we have interviewed executives directly.
Customer usage: We use market share as a metric when comparing vendors and aim to represent both high market share vendors and challenger brands with innovative capabilities. We have spoken to end customers and reviewed customer case studies, testimonials, and end user reviews.
Product heritage: Finally, we have looked at where a product has come from in the market, including when companies were founded, their leadership team, their mission statements, and their successes. We have also considered product updates and how regularly new features are added. We have ensured all vendors are credible leaders with a solution we would be happy to use ourselves.
Based on our experience in the DLP and broader cybersecurity market, we have also considered several other factors, such as the benefit of consolidating multiple features into a single platform, the quality of the admin interface, the customer support on offer, and other use cases.
This list is designed to be a selection of the best dark web monitoring providers. Many leading solutions have not been included in this list, with no criticism intended.
Written By
Alex is an experienced journalist and content editor. He researches, writes, factchecks and edits articles relating to B2B cyber security and technology solutions, working alongside software experts. Alex was awarded a First Class MA (Hons) in English and Scottish Literature by the University of Edinburgh.
Technical Review
Laura Iannini is an Information Security Engineer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from the University of West Florida. Laura has experience with a variety of cybersecurity platforms and leads technical reviews of leading solutions. She conducts thorough product tests to ensure that Expert Insights’ reviews are definitive and insightful.