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The TPRM Blind Spot: Why Dark Web Monitoring Is No Longer Optional

Posted by Bill Schenkelberg on June 24, 2025 at 12:00pm

13640300088?profile=RESIZE_400x"If you can't see the threat coming, you can't defend against it."  The third-party risk management (TPRM) industry has a significant blind spot, and it's becoming increasingly problematic.  While we concentrate on SOC reports, ISO certifications, and vendor questionnaires, cybercriminals are actively trading your vendors' stolen credentials, exploiting their vulnerabilities, and planning their next attacks, all in plain sight on the dark web.

The Underground Economy Your TPRM Program Overlooks - Recent analysis reveals a staggering reality: 96% of S&P 500 companies analyzed experienced data breaches¹. 41.8% of breaches affecting top fintech companies originated from third-party vendors².  Yet most TPRM programs remain willfully blind to where these attacks are orchestrated, tested, and traded: the dark web.

More than two-thirds of UK fintech companies (68%) are reporting higher rates of fraud compared to one year ago³, with losses reaching alarming levels.  Two out of five (38%) fintechs reported losses between £1 million and £5 million in the 12 months leading up to October 2024⁴.

The dark web isn't merely where stolen data ends up; it's where attacks originate.  Here's what your current TPRM assessments overlook:

  • Data Breach Trading: Vendor employee credentials, API keys, and system access tokens are traded daily. By the time you learn about a breach through traditional channels, attackers may have had weeks or even months of access.
  • Malware-as-a-Service Targeting: Specific malware packages designed to exploit known vulnerabilities in popular vendor platforms are marketed with step-by-step guides and success guarantees.
  • Phishing Campaign Blueprints: Detailed social engineering playbooks targeting your vendors' employees, including psychological profiles and effective email templates.
  • OSINT Intelligence Gathering: Attackers methodically collect and analyze publicly available information about your vendors, crafting detailed attack maps that conventional assessments frequently overlook.
  • Zero-Day Exploit Markets: Vulnerabilities in your vendors' systems are discovered, packaged, and sold, often months before patches are released.

Author: 
Norman J Levine | Strategic TPRM Leader | Cyber Risk & Compliance Advisor | Led $24B+ in Vendor Contracts & Security Reviews | Expert in Vendor Risk, SOC, ISO, NIST | Cybersecurity Advisory – Pace University | Ex-Omnicom, Cigna, Stanley Black & Decker, HBO, KPMG

Real Threats, Real Consequences - Consider these potential scenarios happening right now on dark web forums:

  1. The Credential Harvest: A widely used cloud-based HR platform that thousands of companies utilize has over 50,000 employee credentials for sale. The listing includes admin accounts with API access.  Your vendor employs this platform, but their last security assessment was "clean."
  2. The Supply Chain Blueprint: Detailed network diagrams of a major fintech processor, including IP ranges, firewall rules, and connected vendor relationships, are shared in underground forums. Your company is clearly marked as a downstream target.
  3. The Ransomware Preview: A new ransomware variant specifically designed to exploit a vulnerability in widely used procurement software is currently undergoing beta testing. The attackers are recruiting affiliates and offering a 70% commission on successful attacks.

Why Traditional TPRM Fails in the Digital Underground - Your current TPRM toolkit, questionnaires, certifications, and penetration tests operate under a fundamental assumption: that vendors will know about and disclose their vulnerabilities. However, dark web intelligence reveals what vendors do not know, cannot see, or will not share with you:

  • Pre-breach Indicators: Unusual interest in particular vendors, reconnaissance efforts, and discussions about attack planning.
  • Active Exploitation: Current evidence of active compromises that have not yet triggered standard security alerts.
  • Third-Party Exposures: The vendors of your vendors (fourth parties) are actively targeted as more accessible entry points.
  • Insider Threat Markets: Recruiting vendor employees for data theft or system access.

Building Dark Web Intelligence Into TPRM - The solution isn't to become cyber vigilantes; it’s to incorporate professional dark web expertise monitoring into your TPRM framework.

  1. Continuous Threat Monitoring
  • Monitor underground forums, marketplaces, and communication channels
  • Track mentions of your critical vendors and their technologies
  • Identify emerging threats before they materialize
  1. Vendor-Specific Intelligence
  • Assess each vendor's dark web exposure profile
  • Track stolen credentials, leaked data, and exploitation.
  • Compare findings with traditional risk assessments
  1. Proactive Response Capabilities
  • Alert vendors to threats they don't yet know about
  • Implement compensating controls prior to attacks occurring
  • Validate vendor incident response readiness with real threat data
  1. Risk Scoring Evolution
  • Integrate dark web indicators into vendor risk ratings.
  • Weight active threats higher than theoretical vulnerabilities
  • Create dynamic risk scores that reflect real-time threat landscapes

The Technology Stack for Dark Web TPRM - Modern dark web monitoring for TPRM requires sophisticated capabilities:

  • Multi-source Intelligence Gathering: Coverage across forums, marketplaces, paste sites, and encrypted communications
  • AI-Powered Analysis: Natural language processing to identify relevant threats from millions of posts
  • Attribution and Validation: Distinguishing credible threats from noise and disinformation
  • Automated Alerting: Real-time notifications when critical vendor threats emerge
  • Integration APIs: Seamless connection with existing TPRM platform
  • The ROI of Seeing in the Dark
  • While traditional TPRM struggles to demonstrate value, dark web monitoring delivers measurable returns:
    • Prevent Breaches: Stop attacks during planning phases, not after damage is done
    • Reduce Incident Costs: Early detection dramatically reduces breach impact and recovery expenses
    • Accelerate Response: Hours or days of advanced warning versus months of post-breach discovery
    • Strengthen Vendor Relationships: Provide actionable intelligence that helps vendors improve their security

The Call to Action - The current threat landscape is stark. According to the Cybernews Business Digital Index, only 6.19% of companies earned an A rating for cybersecurity, while 48.66% were rated D, and 40.41% received an F⁵.  Manufacturing companies exhibited the highest proportion of low security ratings, with 52.9% receiving an F⁶ and 39.86% a D.  In the Finance and Insurance sector, 72.46% of companies were rated D, while 21.74% received an F⁷.

The fintech sector, despite achieving the highest security scores with a median score of 90⁸, still faces significant exposure to third parties.  Technology products and services were linked to 63.9% of third-party breaches, with file transfer software and cloud platforms being the most frequent points of compromise⁹.

These statistics should alarm every TPRM professional.  Your vendors are under constant watch by sophisticated attackers who share intelligence, pool resources, and coordinate attacks.  Meanwhile, your TPRM program depends on annual questionnaires and point-in-time assessments.

The dark web is no longer optional; it is where real risk intelligence resides.  Each day you operate without this visibility gives attackers an additional advantage.

Your Next Steps:

  1. Evaluate Your Current Blind Spots: How many of your key vendors have you looked up on security-focused dark web monitoring platforms?
  2. Pilot Dark Web Monitoring: Begin with your highest-risk vendors and expand based on your findings.
  3. Integrate Intelligence Workflows: Develop processes to act on dark web intelligence, rather than merely collecting it.
  4. Educate your stakeholders: Assist executives in recognizing that effective TPRM must extend beyond vendor assurances.
  5. Collaborate with Experts: Dark web monitoring necessitates specialized skills and tools, don't attempt to create this capability from the ground up.

The underground economy targeting your vendors operates around the clock, shares intelligence freely, and continuously evolves its tactics.  Your TPRM program must adapt as well, or risk defending against yesterday's threats while tomorrow's attacks are planned in plain sight, just out of view.

Ready to illuminate your TPRM blind spots?  Let's discuss how dark web intelligence can transform your third-party risk management from reactive to predictive.

Contact: norman.levine@cyberriskpartnersllc.com | +1 (203) 733-9288

________________________________________

Note: The dark web monitoring tool mentioned is available for organizations ready to add this critical capability to their TPRM programs.  Schedule a demonstration to see your vendors through the eyes of attackers.

Citations:

  1. Cybernews Business Digital Index. "96% of S&P 500 companies had data breaches." GlobeNewswire, February 17, 2025. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/02/17/3027245/0/en/Report-96-of-S-P-500-companies-had-data-breaches.html
  2. "SecurityScorecard Report Links 41.8% of Breaches Impacting Leading Fintech Companies to Third-Party Vendors." Business Wire, May 21, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250521759145/en/SecurityScorecard-Report-Links-41-8-of-Breaches-Impacting-Leading-Fintech-Companies-to-Third-Party-Vendors
  3. "UK fintechs lost as much as £5 million to fraud last year, as fraud events rise." March 19, 2025. https://www.alloy.com/about/press/uk-fintechs-lost-as-much-as-5-million-to-fraud-last-year-as-fraud-events-rise
  4. ibid
  5. Cybernews Business Digital Index. "Cybersecurity gaps exposed as 96% of S&P 500 firms hit by data breaches." Tech Monitor, February 18, 2025. https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/cybersecurity-gaps-exposed-96-sp-500-firms-data-breaches
  6. ibid
  7. ibid
  8. "More than 40% of Fintech Breaches Linked to Third-Party Vendors." Security Magazine, May 2025. https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/101651-more-than-40-of-fintech-breaches-linked-to-third-party-vendors
  9. "Third-party vendors responsible for 41.8% of fintech data breaches, survey claims." Tech Monitor, May 2025. https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/third-party-vendors-41-8-fintech-data-breaches


This article is shared with permission at no charge for educational and informational purposes only.

Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization.  We provide indicators of compromise information via a notification service (RedXray) or an analysis service (CTAC).  For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the office directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@redskyalliance.com    

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Tags: tr-25-173-001, tprm, third party risk management, norman levine, blind spot, zero-day exploits, phishing, maas, ai
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