Inside the criminal internet underworld where nerds are paid more than £16,000 a month to become hackers

Have you ever wondered how the criminal gangs in the underworld have enough manpower?

Well, it turns out that gangs are targeting tech professionals on the dark web.

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The Dark Web is a collective term for a variety of websites, often including marketplaces where people engage in or solicit dangerous activities.

According to research by Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, the dark web advertises many legal and illegal jobs, but also some legal job postings.

“The leading dark web employers are hacker teams and APT groups seeking capabilities such as developing and distributing malware code and building and maintaining IT infrastructure,” the company said.

The company analyzed job advertisements and resumes posted on 155 dark web forums between January 2020 and June 2022 and found that the financial rewards for organized cybercrime are fairly high. bottom.

For the most in-demand job, developers, these ‘criminal geeks’ can make as much as $20,000 (£16,000) a month in risky deals.

Most of the job ads Kaspersky reviewed were looking for developers, for example, people who could write malware.

The second most in-demand role is ‘attacker’, also known as pentester. That is, someone who can be paid for attempting to break into or hack a particular system.

Median salaries offered to IT professionals for dark web roles ranged from $1,300 to $4,000.

Many payments are also offered via cryptocurrencies.

Kaspersky said layoffs in the tech sector could mean people are turning to the dark web for jobs.

Many people are drawn to the vices of Internet criminals, whose salaries are often the same as what they can legally earn.

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