8 Dark Web Scanners to Check for Personal Data Breaches

Spread the love

Dark web scanners check two kinds of personal data breaches: user account information and financial information. The following list of dark web scanners will give you access to your sensitive information that was breached online, with real-time solutions against emerging threats.

Content

1. Google Dark Web Report

Price: $1.99/month (Google One Basic)

Google’s Dark Web Report is a simple tool to do a dark web scan using your Gmail login. Sign up for the basic Google One plan, and the dark web monitoring tool will be accessible from its dashboard. You’ll get 100 GB of storage, too.

When you turn on dark web monitoring, you’ll get many deep insights. A basic summary of your results lets you know the number of privacy breaches in the dark web. These include username, password, date of birth, address, phone number, and more. You’ll also get names of the websites and apps that leaked your personal information online. Google recommends you change or edit the sensitive information or unlink your credentials.

Pros

  • Extremely detailed and updated account of data leakage
  • Only requires your Google account
  • Very cheap subscription, suitable for individuals and families

Cons

  • Doesn’t connect with public tools for monitoring the dark web
  • Not effective when there is a real data breach

Tip: there are many dark websites that Google won’t let you find.

2. Flare Dark Web Monitoring

Price: Starting $1250/month (200 identifiers)

As far as professional dark web monitoring tools are concerned, Flare performs a comprehensive scan of every niche and corner of the Internet, including the dark web, to ensure detailed monitoring of your sensitive information. At the very least, it compares a dataset of 200 identifiers that could cost your company. If there’s a dark web discussion about your company’s interests, Flare does a good job of identifying the data leak in real time.

A quick look at the dashboard gives you updated information on whether your personal information was shared in a public chatroom or there were ransom leaks. It also associates your data leakage with concerned individuals and ranks all events in terms of severity: Critical, High, and more.

Pros

  • Easy to set up
  • Very elaborate single-view dashboard results

Cons

  • Even the basic plans are extremely expensive
  • Does not monitor social media, except for Telegram

FYI: check out some of the best deep web search engines to dig into extremely buried information.

3. CrowdStrike Falcon Intelligence Recon+

Price: Starting $8.33/month/device (for small businesses)

CrowdStrike specializes in endpoint protection and cloud security. Its dark web scanner, Falcon Intelligence Recon+, performs various functions to detect potential compromises in the dark web.

A cybersecurity expert will help by warning you when online scammers are talking about your private details in the dark corners of the Internet or pretending to be your website. They also keep an eye out for leaked bank details and help keep your important team members safe from fake emails and impersonating.

Pros

  • Advanced threat detection
  • Real-time responses
  • Easy to use and manage

Cons

  • Expensive subscriptions with more devices
  • Enterprise-centric focus

FYI: exploring the deep or dark web requires using the Tor browser. It can be painfully slow, but there are ways to accelerate Tor speeds.

4. ZeroFox Dark Web Monitoring

Price: Starting $99/month

ZeroFox has a powerful dark web scanner that goes into social media tools like Telegram, Discord, and Tor, as well as IRC chatrooms to detect your organization’s data leakage chances. Its essential mode of operation is to keep tabs on data brokers that sell your personal data online. It also monitors impersonations, credit card frauds, and data leaks via mobile apps.

Along with dark web monitoring, ZeroFox does many other things you wouldn’t want to spend your energy on, including removing your personal information from data brokers and third-party websites. With a dedicated call center and cybersecurity advisor, you can identify and plug in breaches in real time.

Pros

  • Quick identification of assets exposure
  • Actionable alerts for proactive responses to threats

Cons

  • Super expensive
  • Does not monitor many social media platforms

5. Identity Guard

Price: Starting $7.50/month

Identity Guard’s expertise lies in identity protection, credit and debit card monitoring, online banking monitoring, and protection against consumer frauds. The company’s dark web monitoring solution scours the deeper web layers for incidents of identity theft, and if someone is using your identity, you will get alerts in real time.

Apart from protecting you from fraudulent account takeover, Identity Guard has a U.S.-based fraud detection team that helps you resolve any issues with other stakeholders. Any serious breach is protected under a $1M identity theft insurance that covers the legal fees to secure your account.

Pros

  • Actionable insights for fraud resolution
  • Affordable plans
  • Insurance-based protection against data breaches

Cons

  • Credit monitoring services not included in basic plans
  • No trial

6. BreachWatch by Keeper

Price: Starting at $2.92/month

Whether it’s social media logins, email accounts, domains, or bank accounts, BreachWatch by Keeper is one of the best tools. It offers free access to email leaks in the dark web and knowledge of whether your passwords have been compromised. Website owners can check whether their domain credentials are safe and whether they need to be changed.

But the best part of the service is that it can be used as a password manager, as it has vaults to protect all your passwords from leaking. In other words, it works as a real-time insurance against password theft. With proactive monitoring, you know when it’s time for the passwords to be changed.

Pros

  • Extremely affordable
  • Performs unlimited scans for identifiers
  • Enterprise-class cybersecurity for individuals and families

Cons

  • The free version is rather limited
  • Does not access public databases for information leaks

7. Aura

Price: $12/month

If you were looking for dark web scanners at affordable prices for individuals and families, Aura is one of the best. Its mode of operation is similar to Google Dark Web Monitoring. But unlike Google’s tool, it also monitors data brokers and public records to assess vulnerabilities.

You can start with a free trial, then analyze your email address for incidents of password leaking (by date), and get one free report. After a subscription, you can find many more instances of sensitive data that was leaked, such as social security numbers, ID theft, and password leaking for multiple services.

Pros

  • Affordable, comprehensive, dark web monitoring
  • Advanced identity protection tools
  • Easy to use and monitor

Cons

  • Mobile apps lack the full set of features
  • Lack of proactive phishing protection

Good to know: learn more about Onion routing and how it works.

8. IDStrong

Price: Based on quote requests only

IDStrong has one of the largest networks of dark web and data broker sources, making it the most comprehensive dark web scanner listed here. With a simple query, you can assess whether your information is breached, and if yes, who the sources were that exposed your confidential data.

The list of dark web sources includes chatrooms, underground forums, social media, and various public records and databases. Get a sneak preview of the breaches and take corrective action against the sites. Any online fraud is protected against a $1 million insurance to cover legal fees and more.

Pros

  • Full featured
  • Quick reports and analysis
  • Extremely large database of dark web sites

Cons

  • Pricing is unclear

Having explored all the different dark web scanners online, perhaps it’s time to learn the differences between the deep web and dark web. If you’re new to the world of the dark web, this guide will show you how to search for dark websites.

Image credit: Pixabay. All screenshots by Sayak Boral.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox

Sign up for all newsletters.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy. We will not share your data and you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe


Sayak Boral
Staff Writer

Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over eleven years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.

Leave a comment