Though the internet is a fairly constant staple of our dailylives, there is very little public understanding and even lesslegal understanding of the mysterious “dark web.” At ALMCyberSecure, panelists S. Keith Moulson, partner at WhitefordTaylor Preston, Kevin Lancaster, CEO of dark web threat monitoringplatform ID Agent, and Ariel Wolf, associate at Venable, discussedsome of the growing concerns about the dark web by answering threequestions many may have:

What is the “dark web”?

Lancaster explained that the “dark web” is a part of the deepinternet that uses a different protocol and is not indexed bytraditional search engines, which has the effect of allowing usersto communicate anonymously. Because of this level of anonymouscommunication, Moulson pointed out that users can illegally buy andsell black market items that range from prescription pills andweapons to user account credentials, all the way to unlawful legaladvice.

Unlike the majority of personal web browsing, dark webnegotiation isn’t something you can easily seek out. The majorityof these kinds of illicit transactions happen in gated,invitation-based forums, where users are vetted and authenticatedto prevent tracking or law enforcement entrants.

“You have to know where you’re going to communicate,” Lancasterexplained. “There is an element of knowing where you’re going togo.”

How should companies and CIOs be monitoring threadsfrom the dark web?

In the wake of the Yahoo account breach, many companies areconcerned about how to monitor potential threats to user and data.Moulson said that a more proactive approach of scanning the darkweb for potential cyberthreats can save companies a lot of time andhassle, not to mention protect them from user notificationrequirements.

“There’s real value in monitoring the dark web and finding outinformation to protect your business,” Moulson said.

For now, a lot of the most valuable threat information tomonitor still need to be researched with human intelligence ratherthan automation tools or bots. Lancaster said that much of the darkweb’s more nefarious transactions happen in gated forums. “Theseareas are difficult to script,” he said.

How does the law treat “dark web”threats?

Even where law enforcement can find problematic transactions andinformation trading in the dark web, they may not have the legalauthority to have content removed. Moulson noted that lawenforcement has to establish whether they have jurisdiction overparticular posts, and acknowledged that First Amendment protectionsdo guard some of the existence of dark web posts.

As for a company’s duty to monitor dark web threats or to reportthreats to clients, Moulson noted that the law is a lot less clear.“The laws lag many years, if not decades, behind where thetechnology is,” Moulson said.

Wolf said the courts have yet to determine where the dark webfalls on standards of reasonableness with respect to dataregulation. Wolf said that courts have yet to definitively notewhether or not “we arrived at a point where dark web monitoring isreasonably available,” and what that would demand of companies whoas part of regular information security practice.