Desperate Job Seekers Offer Help to Cybercriminals on the Darknet

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread unemployment around the world. Desperate job seekers are now offering their services to cybercriminals on the darknet and hacker forums, promising “not to ask stupid questions,” “24/7 availability,” and a “willingness to make money by any means necessary.”

Check Point Research has discovered a rise in job-seeking ads on the darknet and hacker forums. The darknet is a part of the internet that is not visible to search engines and is accessible only through anonymous browsers. Here, hackers buy stolen credit card data, drugs, cyberweapons, and software for hacking into other people’s devices.

Usually, hackers themselves post “job openings” on the darknet and specialized forums. However, since the beginning of 2021, Check Point Research has observed the opposite trend—job seekers are now posting ads stating they are ready to work for cybercriminals. According to their observations, between 10 and 16 new messages from job seekers appear on hacker forums each month. Considering that such ads were previously very rare, this is a significant number. Researchers link this situation to the desperation of people who cannot find work and are facing financial difficulties due to the pandemic.

“Until this year, we very rarely saw messages from people willing to do illegal work and, moreover, actively seeking it on the darknet,” says Oded Vanunu, Head of Product Vulnerability Research at Check Point Software Technologies. “We were alarmed and shocked. People offering their services to cybercriminals put all of us at great risk. That’s why we selected several hacker forums and monitored them over the past few months. We noted that the number of messages from job seekers on these forums has been steadily increasing. We suspect the same situation is happening on other hacker forums in the darknet. In our opinion, the darknet should be the last place where people look for work. This trend highlights the severe financial situation many people have found themselves in after the pandemic. Such a ‘cry for help’ should be a signal to everyone who wants to minimize illegal criminal activity.”

Examples of Job Seeker Posts

• A job seeker from Russia states they are in a difficult financial situation and offers services in “money laundering, DDoS, security,” promising not to ask too many stupid questions.
• Another job seeker writes: “I’m ready for any possible job… I’m at home 24/7 because of this pandemic.”
• Messages from job seekers include: “I’m ready to be a sender. Ready to launder money… be a raider… courier.”
• One job seeker is willing to “make money online by any means necessary.”
• A 25-year-old woman from Ukraine, who “has experience in cyber fraud in logistics, sales, and wholesale trade,” understands the risks associated with such work and is looking for a position with monthly pay.