Assessing Dark Web Data Dump and Breach Claim Credibility Via OSINT

Hackers and cybercriminals have a habit of making leak announcements following data dumps and network breaches. The announcements make it clear that they have information they can either sell or use to blackmail victims. However, cybersecurity experts cannot always believe such claims. Even when claims are true, the actual incident might not be as serious as a hacker contends. Enter OSINT investigations.

Security teams use OSINT (open-source intelligence) investigations and tools to verify data dumps and breach claims. Security teams want to know how credible a leak announcement is. In addition, they need to assess just how severe a threat might be. Security teams cannot afford to be content with deciding whether a claim is real or fake. They also need to know how complete, current, and operationally relevant an actual leak is.

Credential Lists as a Tool

Security experts have several tools they can employ during their OSINT investigations. One of them is the credential list. Credential lists are among the strongest artefacts for judging whether a breach is real and, if so, how dangerous it is.

Investigators check exposed usernames and emails against known lists of real people, roles, domains, etc. If data matches, it is a safe bet that the leak announcement is credible. The attacker either has direct access to the targeted environment or a third party with access.

In addition, leaked credentials are often compared to existing breach data for the purposes of determining whether they are merely recycled from older incidents. Recycled data may not pose a significant threat as compared to a new compromise.

Internal Documents as a Tool

Internal documents can also be used to verify the credibility of a data dump or network breach claim. What makes them so valuable is the difficulty of faking them convincingly. Internal documents often contain non-public data like names, acronyms, and workflows.

Security teams can compare allegedly leaked data against internal documents. If a suspected breach appears to be legitimate, the investigation can then look at various business units and repositories to figure out where the breach took place.

Metadata in leaked documents is also helpful to OSINT investigations. References inside reinforce metadata that points back to something specific – like a team, location, or particular technology. To the investigator, it is a lot like looking at a bunch of potential clues and then trying to connect the dots.

5 Primary Strategies

In addition to tools like credential lists and internal documents, OSINT investigations rely on proven strategies for verifying data dump and breach claim validity. Here are five such strategies, all of which are effectively leveraged via DarkOwl OSINT tools:

• Source and Form Credibility – OSINT investigations often begin with a thorough analysis into the credibility of the leak source. A highly credible source warrants further investigation.

• Data Sample Verification – Most leak announcements include a small proof sample. Investigators cross-reference this sample with known datasets.

• Technical and Contextual Checks – Investigators look at hashes, file metadata, and infrastructure details in order to correlate them with existing intelligence. They also look for anomalies in such data.

• Cross-Source Corroboration – Leak announcements can sometimes be corroborated with independent information from other sources. Everything from CTI reports to vendor blogs and computer logs is in play.

• Intelligence Grading – All data gleaned during the OSINT investigation is graded using some sort of recognised intelligence grading scheme.

OSINT Investigations serve multiple purposes, including verifying data dump and network breach claims. Cybersecurity teams can more effectively mitigate potential threats by first verifying any claim and then evaluating the degree of threat it poses.