How to check if your data is for sale on the dark web?

The dark web is a part of the internet that is not indexed by regular search engines and can only be accessed using specialized software.

Because the dark web, or dark web, is more private, it is attractive to cybercriminals who use it to share and sell stolen information.

In the event of a data breach, your credentials could potentially end up on a dark web marketplace or forum.

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A report titled Account Takeover in 2022, issued by the Digital Shadows Photon Research team, indicates that as many as 25 billion phone numbers, email addresses, credit card details and login details were sold last year.

Criminals can buy goods using your bank account, get medical care through your health insurance and even commit crimes in your name.

And while you can't remove your information from the dark web, you can find out if it's on the "black market".

And cybersecurity experts recommend using scanners and websites that search the dark web for you.

Users can go to websites like ID Security and Have I Been Pwned that will use your email address or phone number to find out if this information is on the dark web.

Password managers like LastPass and Apple's Keychain show if your passwords have been compromised or overused by searching the black market and alerting users of how often their passwords appear.

The dark web is one of the three layers of the Internet, the other two being the surface and deep web.

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Unlike the World Wide Web, the Dark Web cannot be accessed through search engines. Users need an anonymous browser called Tor - short for The Onion Router - which is an array of encrypted websites that allow users to browse under the everyday internet with complete anonymity.

It uses numerous layers of security and encryption to make users anonymous online, giving users a no-man's-land where child pornography, human trafficking, contract killers and other illegal goods can be easily accessed.

It is the place to buy and sell people's personal information.

According to the Digital Shadows Photon Research report, about 6.7 billion pieces of information displayed on the dark web in 2022 had a unique association between username and password, which makes them particularly valuable.

This data is collected through data breaches of large organizations, such as banks, medical facilities and credit card companies.

Experts say HaveIBeenPwned is a way to check if your information was collected during a hack. This website covers more than 11 billion stolen records.

"Just put in your email address and it will show how many times the email account has appeared in breaches and how many times it has appeared on, say, the dark web," Scott Shackelford, director of Indiana University's cybersecurity program, told CBS.

There is also the option to pay for a dark web monitor, which is constantly scanning the dark web for your data, such as Aura, LifeLock, and ID Watchdog.

Most of these services charge an average of $10 per month.

However, due to criminal activity, dark web scanners cannot cover all stolen data across the entire dark web. This is because most of the stolen data is privately traded.

Apple Keychain encrypts account names and passwords for your Mac, apps, servers, websites, and confidential information such as credit card numbers or bank account PIN numbers.

And when you access a website, email account, network server, or other password-protected item, you can save the password to your keychain so you don't have to remember or enter the password each time.

This prevents your personal information from being viewed by prying eyes on the Internet and notifies you if your passwords have been compromised.

"When you first log in, you say, like, 25 times this information has appeared in breaches, and that can prompt you to be more proactive and change those passwords," Shackelford told CBS.

Users daring enough to venture onto the dark web to search for their private information can do so by downloading Tor.

The dark web arose in 2000 with the launch of Freenet, a thesis project by University of Edinburgh student Ian Clarke, who set out to create a "distributed decentralized information storage and retrieval system".

Clark wanted to create a new way to anonymously communicate and share files over the Internet, which was the basis for the Tor Project, which was released in 2002.