What It Costs to Hire a Hacker on the Dark Web

The Darkish Internet is house to unlawful and felony services up on the market — and that actually encompasses the world of cybercrime. From web site hacking to DDoS assaults to customized malware to altering faculty grades, you should buy one in every of these companies from a hacker for rent. However simply how a lot do a lot of these objects price?

On this article, I look at varied sources to indicate you the prices of hiring a hacker on the Darkish Internet. The concept is to not tempt you into a lifetime of crime however to disclose the most recent findings and enhance your cybersecurity data.

SEE: The Darkish Internet: A Information for Enterprise Professionals (Free PDF) (TechRepublic)

Hiring a hacker

Earlier than I look at the prices, only a transient phrase on how simple it’s for nefarious people to discover a hacker. In keeping with analysis from accounting and consulting agency Crowe, “hacker-for-hire companies can be found in abundance on the Darkish Internet.” Funds are often made utilizing cryptocurrency belongings to supply the very best degree of anonymity.

For those who’re questioning how huge the Darkish Internet is, then cybersecurity software program firm Avast explains, “It’s tough to measure darkish net statistics, nevertheless it’s estimated that there are tens of thousands and thousands of URLs on the darkish net and tens of hundreds of energetic darkish net web sites, together with hundreds of boards and marketplaces.”

These alarming information imply the recruitment course of goes to be pretty simple. There are various locations to search out hackers who’re all wanting to do unseemly enterprise.

SEE: Dell Unveils AI and Cybersecurity Options at Microsoft Ignite 2024 (TechRepublic)

DDoS assaults

Hackers who supply distributed denial-of-service assaults can cost as little as $10 or as excessive as $750. Primarily based on knowledge from Privateness Affairs’ Darkish Internet Worth Index 2023, $10 would purchase you  DDoS assaults on an “Unprotected web site, 10-50k requests per second, 1 hour.”

If it had been a “premium protected web site,” then a 24-hour assault would price round $170.

Some hackers will cost by the hour and even by the month to keep up an assault for so long as the client desires.

Sure hackers will change search engine outcomes to lift or decrease a website’s rankings. Others will take away a publish that the client made on a social community. Some hackers will audit a web site’s safety, seemingly to indicate the proprietor the place any vulnerabilities exist.

SEE: Cybersecurity: Advantages and Finest Practices (TechRepublic Premium)

Private assaults

Hackers specializing in private assaults promote their companies for $10 to over $600. A private assault might embody monetary sabotage, authorized bother, or public defamation. One tactic touted by a hacker is to border the sufferer as a purchaser of kid pornography. A couple of hackers supply such companies as “scammer revenge” or “fraud monitoring,” by which they assault a scammer.

Evaluation from Crowe, whose staff encountered a “hacker-for-hire companies menu,” states that having access to private data, addresses, telephone numbers, emails, and kin’ names will, on common, price $600.

The Darkish Internet Worth Index 2023 says a U.S. passport scan might price as little as $50, which is the value of solid paperwork.

Web site hacking

Web site hacking consists of assaults in opposition to web sites and different companies hosted on-line. Hackers can entry an underlying net server or a web site’s administrative panel. Others can steal databases and administrative credentials.

Crowe’s investigation reveals that web site and database hacking prices, on common, $1,200. This sort of exercise may entail having access to the admin dashboard or backend.

Pc and telephone hacking

Primarily based on Crowe’s findings, a pc and telephone hacking service runs $950 on common. In such a assault, the hacker breaks into the sufferer’s PC or telephone to steal knowledge or deploy malware. The working system doesn’t appear to matter as they boast that they’ll entry Home windows, macOS, Linux, Android, or iOS.

SEE: All the pieces You Have to Know in regards to the Malvertising Cybersecurity Menace (TechRepublic Premium)

Social media account hacking

Hacking right into a social media account can vary from $20 to $500+. On this service, the hacker will spy on or hijack accounts from such platforms as WhatsApp, Fb, social platform X, Instagram, Skype, Telegram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Reddit. The malicious exercise is dependent upon the service. Criminals who hack right into a sufferer’s Fb or X account will usually steal credentials to offer the client full entry to the account. Those that faucet into an account from WhatsApp will doubtless spy on messages or take screenshots.

Electronic mail hacking

In keeping with Crowe’s knowledge, e-mail hacking sells for $700 on common. On this exercise, the hacker steals the sufferer’s e-mail password after which both offers that password to the client or breaks into the account to entry knowledge. In some circumstances, the felony might arrange an e-mail forwarded course of to get a replica of all of the sufferer’s emails.

SEE: Partaking Executives: Tips on how to Current Cybersecurity in a Method That Resonates (TechRepublic)

Altering grades

College students who need a greater grade can really pay somebody to hack into a faculty system and alter their grades. Accessible for each grade colleges and universities, this is among the commonest hacking companies and some of the costly. As a sideline, some hackers additionally say they’ll steal the solutions to future exams. So, meaning a pupil can get an A+ for examination outcomes however an F- for moral conduct.

In keeping with Crowe, hackers supply entry to databases for grading software program managed by universities. This sort of service isn’t low-cost; the common price is $1,600.

Conclusion

As we are able to see from the vary of threats and remarkably low costs, the risks of hacking require people and companies to stay consistently vigilant.

I like to recommend monitoring the Darkish Internet Worth Index, because it’s a helpful useful resource that exhibits trending assaults.

Different actions you may take can embody worker consciousness coaching, strong antivirus measures, penetration testing, and even using an moral hacker to proactively establish and handle vulnerabilities in your group.

Lastly, and since illumination is our noble intention, sustain with the most recent cybersecurity information at TechRepublic and enhance your data with coaching programs at TechRepublic Academy. There’s no cause to let the Darkish Internet darken your step.