The Dark Web: What It Is, What It Is Not, and What to Do About It

You have probably seen a notification at some point. Your email was found on the dark web.

And if you are like most people, you either panicked a little, dismissed it because you had no idea what to do, or both.

The coverage you see in the news does not help. Headlines about the dark web are designed to alarm. They almost never explain what is actually happening or what you can do about it. That is what this week’s bonus episode of Your Tech Makeover is for.

What the dark web actually is

It is not the entire hidden internet. It is one specific layer, the part you cannot access without special software, at the bottom of a much larger structure. Most of what people call “the internet you cannot see” is actually just the deep web, which is simply anything that requires a login. Your bank account is in the deep web. Your Netflix profile is in the deep web. Most of us are in the deep web dozens of times a day without thinking about it.

The dark web is something smaller and more specific. And it was not built for crime. It was originally developed to protect journalists and activists in countries where communicating privately could get you killed. It became a place where bad actors operate, like a lot of tools, but the existence of the dark web is not itself the problem.

What happens after a company gets hacked

Stolen data, email addresses, passwords, sometimes credit card numbers, often ends up posted or sold on dark web marketplaces. Most people assume this is a highly organized criminal operation with their specific information on display. The reality is much more mundane. A batch of thousands of credentials from a mid-size website might sell for a few dollars. Your information is almost certainly not being targeted. It is one row in a massive pile.

A breach notification from Google or Apple means exactly that. Not that someone is coming for you. That your email appeared in a known list of stolen data, probably from a breach that happened a long time ago.

The question that actually matters

Not whether your information is out there. Some of it probably is. The question is which of your accounts actually matter, and whether those accounts are properly protected.

A leaked login to your county tax portal is a very different problem from a leaked login to your email or your bank. The conversation should be about protecting what matters, not about panicking over everything.

Five steps worth taking today

1. Go to haveibeenpwned.com and check your email addresses. It is free and takes 30 seconds. Frank tested his own and found dozens of results for an old address, almost all from accounts he had already updated. Know where you stand.

2. Stop reusing passwords. This is how most account takeovers actually happen, not sophisticated hacking.

3. Use a password manager. LastPass, 1Password, or the one built into your phone or browser. You remember one password; it handles the rest.

4. Turn on two-factor authentication for your email, bank, and anything financial or medical. Look for passkeys too while you are in there.

5. Request a free credit freeze from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Frank has it on all of his accounts. It has never cost him a dime.

A personal note

I have been doing tech consulting for a long time. The dark web question comes up constantly, and it almost always comes from a place of real anxiety: something was in the news, a notification showed up, and nobody explained what it meant in a way that actually helped. That is the episode I wanted to make. Not the scary version and not the “you are probably fine, relax” version. The one that actually tells you what is happening and what to do about it.

🎧 Listen to the full episode: YourTechMakeover.com/blog/dark-web-explained-should-you-actually-be-worried

Until next time, thanks for reading!