Dark Web ’LinkedIn’ sees cyber experts offering ’morally flexible’ services to scammers
On the Dark Web’s criminal version of ’LinkedIn’, the jobs on offer are varied. They include web developers, software engineers and people who steal data or hack a business
Cyber professionals at big firms are offering to help scammers create criminal products or "your money back" - with even non-cyber staff and professional voice actors offering to rip off firms or trick consumers.
The adverts could easily feature on ’for hire’ message boards of any tech help site or on LinkedIn, but they are from a part of the Dark Web where talented cyber professionals offer their skills for criminal gain, often turning against the employers that hired and trained them for as little as $25 per hour.
One "morally flexible" web developer with over 15 years experience boasts they are "down to work" creating phishing sites, malware and almost any scam, "unless it’s something like CP (child porn) or murder." Others even offer portfolios of their work and promise to make any "scam web page you want," with "money-back guarantees and two weeks of 24hr support" to help criminals get their scams off the ground.
A software developer offers their services
Another experienced cyber security worker says they can work on illegal schemes for £25 to 50 per hour as: "Xmas is coming and my kids need new toys." Cybersecurity is the frontline of protecting major businesses and the private sector, including hospitals, police forces and even the MOD from attack by criminals and even rival states. Last week, China was blamed for hacking the bank details of 27,000 military personnel in the UK.
However, many cyber experts are being tempted by quick pay on the Dark Web says Amanda Finch, CEO of The Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec). "Organised crime has jumped with both feet into cyber crime. They no longer need to rob a bank by using a gun, they can find people online and then sit back and watch the money come in with limited risk to themselves."
A member offers to create a ’scam page’
On the Dark Web’s criminal LinkedIn, the skills on offer are varied - including developers who will help create a scam website; software engineers who will build an AI product that can steal data or hack a business and cyber professionals who can expose weaknesses in a business they work in.
There are even voice actors who offer their vocal skills to "act like a loan applicant to get loans secured, or pretend to be an employee of a bank." Hacking groups are very happy to pay to get the best skills around says Mark*, a police officer who has worked as a covert asset in law enforcement for twenty years, specialising in cyber crime and Dark Web criminality. He says these illicit adverts have grown in recent years alongside the economic downturn as workers - not just with cyber skills - are turning against their employers for cash.
A person says they will "code anything"
"This wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t a lucrative business - people would not put up these adverts if they were not being successful. On the same Dark Web sites, non-cyber staff will also make it known they work for a major organisation and they are happy to take in a USB device to steal data or release a ransomware hack on that firm in return for cash.
"Others will say, I’m in massive amounts of debt, how can I make quick money? They’ll say, “These are the skills I have, this is what I have access to, how can I sell this access. Often it is even someone of low skill but has access to a lot of data at a bank."
These adverts are generally university-educated, professional people who have the skills that are useful to a hacker, says Mark. "It is pretty much like reading a LinkedIn profile - they use the right terms and industry buzz words - the adverts are professionally written, demanding attention."
Hacking groups want to find the best penetration testers (cyber professionals who test the digital security perimeters of a business) around and are happy to pay - even paying for them to go on extra courses to further their talents, says Mark.
"A hacker or fraudster will approach someone who advertises on the Dark Web, there’ll be a vetting process where the person proves they have the access and the skills they say they do; and then the scam will take place and money will change hands. The hacker will say, “This is the package we can offer, show us how to get into a business like yours."
Research by Gartner shows that 25 per cent of security leaders will leave the security industry by 2025 due to work-related stress. Finch says: "Most companies have no understanding of what is involved in cybersecurity and allow cybersecurity to run itself. This leaves cyber staff protecting huge companies on a skeleton staff or poor budget. Not only do good staff leave, but there is more opportunity for bad actors to turn to crime."
However, cyber professionals or professionals tempted to turn to crime are warned the cash is easy, but the way out again is not. Mark says: "You are being employed by criminals. When it is all going well, they are fine. However, if the spotlight falls on them, they will sell their soul to save their own skin and they will happily sell you out. They will also not let you leave easily - once they have your skill they intend on keeping it for their use."
*name has been changed
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