Dark Ops: Going Beyond the Obvious

The Dark Web has been marketed as synonymous with the worst of human nature; a part of the Internet that is only frequented by criminals of the lowest kind. In fact, the Dark Web is a robust online community of privacy advocates, lay users, curious dilettantes, intelligence entities, politically and socially oppressed groups, with a subsection of users that use the ecosystem to engage in criminal behavior. It is like any city in the world: most neighborhoods are just fine with only a few known areas that you should avoid. Governments and businesses alike are looking for ways to educate and protect users from the more sinister parts of the cyber underbelly. Advances in AI (artificial intelligence) are moving at dizzying speeds, but when it comes to the Dark Web, there are limits to where technology is able to go and must be informed and supplemented by human expertise. 

It is difficult to articulate in one word the excitement, humility and optimism surrounding the benefits to our clients with the fusion of ZeroFox’s award-winning technology platform with Vigilante’s human intelligence and operational know-how. The Dark Ops service offering has taken over a decade of careful, deliberate and operationally sound tradecraft by Vigilante’s cyber intelligence operatives who have mastered the culture of the more exotic corners of the Deep and Dark Web ecosystem. Fusing the technically sound tradecraft with sound analytic acumen ensures that ZeroFox is committed to providing an enlightened understanding of the complex threat landscape in the cyber underground. These unique insights and accesses are aimed at giving our clients an advantage over a worthy set of well-funded, agile adversaries by picking up where the technology stops, going where the tech simply cannot go, doing what few others are willing or able to do, while blending into exclusive ecosystems where reputational currency is king.

In a recent instance, the Vigilante team went out to investigate a claim that the network of a major US corporation had been compromised by a cyber threat actor and that the media were prepared to report those facts at face value. Our operative team, using the highest levels of operational security practices, was able to extract intelligence that the threat actor group did not have network access to the said US firm but did disclose to our team whose network they were on. This intel gem armed our client with the peace of mind that they were not a victim and empowered them to pass this critical information to the real victim to assist in mitigating further damage. 

Dark Ops Plays a Central Role for Security Teams

In addition to more exotic, kinetic engagements, the combined ZeroFox and Vigilante platform will seek to provide robust dark web intelligence in the form of:

• Breach intelligence & response: Whether there is a known data breach or a suspected one, the Dark Ops team is at your side to go out and get answers.
• Data delivery: If your team suspects that there is greater data exposure than what is commonly available through traditional compromised credentials feeds, Dark Ops teams are prepared to go deeper in harder-to-reach areas for greater clarity and deliver accordingly. 
• Botnet exposure monitoring: Access intelligence on active infections and historical botnet logs to identify sessions in which infected devices have accessed internal or client-facing assets.
• Operative intelligence: The Dark Ops team will not stop hunting on your behalf; they are a relentless, loyal group of intelligence professionals that understand the nexus between your intelligence requirements, peace of mind and delivering actionable alerts in potentially blind spot areas of the Deep and Dark Web. 

The Dark Ops intelligence team is committed to building on previous successes and lessons learned to cultivate unique information streams, protect our sources and methods, and increase expertise to ease your team’s security burden with integrity and discretion.

Adam Darrah

Director, Operative Intelligence Services

Adam Darrah is an experienced intelligence analyst skilled in putting international affairs into a cultural and political context. Before joining ZeroFox, Adam served as Director of Intelligence at Vigilante and InfoArmor. Previously, he spent eight years working for the U.S. government coordinating across several federal agencies to fill critical knowledge gaps on national security priorities, which helped form his specialization in Central Eurasian political, security and intelligence issues. Adam holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Russian from the University of Utah and the University of Arizona, respectively. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three children. When he is not working, Adam enjoys spending time outside in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota with family and friends.