What role does Dark Web Monitoring play in helping me protect my information?

As part of our service, we scan private forums, social webs, deep and dark web for exposed personal information. When you subscribe to Avast Secure Identity, Dark Web Monitoring begins monitoring your email address on file immediately, and we run a one-time historical dark web scan looking back to 2008, to determine if the information you provided us has been previously exposed. If we find exposed information, we notify you. We run continuous scans and are on the lookout for exposed information. If your information has been exposed, you can proactively take several actions to help protect yourself.

Can you erase my information from the dark web?

We do not, nor are we able to, erase information from the dark web because of the highly anonymous nature of forums, communities, and black markets in which criminals operate.

How often are the scans of the dark web performed? How current is the data that is found?

With our ongoing algorithms, we notify you when we find information that may belong to you on the dark web.

What is the difference between the Exposed Information and the Additional Exposed Information sections within the Dark Web Monitoring Notification?

Your Dark Web Monitoring Notification displays two types of exposed information. There is the information you provide us and that we monitor actively. If we detect this information on the Dark Web, it will be displayed in the Exposed Information section of the Dark Web Monitoring Notification. If we detect other exposed information that may be related to you, we will notify you of this as well. Even if you did not provide the specific information to us, it is possible to use the information you have provided to help detect other information that may have been exposed. However, since we have not collected this information from you, we can only notify you that it has been exposed, and not provide any other details. For example, in the case of a healthcare database breach, if you have provided your Insurance Account and Insurance Provider information for monitoring, we may also be able to notify you of additional data that may have been exposed, such as blood type, prescription medications, diagnoses, and related details. This type of information would be displayed in the Additional Exposed Information section of the Dark Web Monitoring Notification.

Does your company pay for personal information or buy personal information on the dark web?

We do not pay for or buy any personal information on the dark web, private forums, or any other means.

How can I be sure that your employees do not use or sell my personal information?

Any data that you provide is encrypted, and only a few selected employees, who undergo training on how to handle personal information can access the personal information. These employees must provide their own unique credentials every time they access personal information and are subject to monitoring by our Information Security team.

How do I know my personal information that I entered is secure?

Personal information is stored and managed by an advanced database that is encrypted.

Does Avast monitor 100% of the dark web and private forums?

Since the dark web is constantly changing, no one can guarantee that they monitor 100% of the dark web and private forums. Dark Web Monitoring goes beyond easily accessible sites and marketplaces, infiltrating private forums, social webs, deep web, and dark web.

I don't recognize the website, or the password mentioned in my Dark Web Monitoring notification. How do I know I have used this before?

There could be several reasons why you may not recognize the website mentioned in a notification. Here are a few reasons:

• The account may have been created via Facebook or Google login. Some accounts may be old, and you may not remember having used the website or service.
• You may have provided login details (username/password) for one-time use, after which you may have never gone back to the website or account again.
• Sometimes breached sites or services may deactivate exposed accounts which can make it difficult to remember or identify an account as belonging to you.

Even if you don’t recognize the password shown in the alert, we recommend that you change the password associated with the affected website or any other site where you've used the same password.

Why couldn’t I respond to the Dark Web Monitoring notification to confirm my identity?

We notify you that information which may belong to you has been detected. These notifications do not require a confirmation from you because it is a result of a scan we perform on your behalf, and not a result of your activity.