Hackers-for-hire site booming after 3 months

16 Jan 2015

Jimmi Simpson plays hired hacker Gavin Orsay (with his sidekick, Cashew) on House of Cards. Photo via Netflix

Desire for digital revenge? Want to engage in corporate espionage but have someone else do it? Well, look no further, a hackers-for-hire website is here and it’s booming.

Known simply as Hacker’s List, the professional looking site that has been in operation for less than three months allows people to post their details – well, not all of them – in the hope of finding their dream hacker to do their dirty work while keeping their digital paper trail almost completely clean.

Highlighted by The New York Times, the website has attracted more than 500 people, many of whom appear to be looking for access to email accounts that have ironically been hacked by someone else and taken over, with rewards offered of US$10-US$1,000.

However, some appear to be quite more sinister or devious. A recent ad sought someone to “hack database of a central bank” and offered between US$10,000 and US$20,000 for the job. The validity of these claims, however, obviously comes into question with an anonymous profile.

The homepage of the Hacker’s List website

What’s more, a user can set up his or her account on the website by linking it to his or her Facebook page which, given its public nature and sharing of user data, could lead to trouble in the future.

For everyone else however, the service promises anonymity, with the site claiming a fee on all completed jobs.

The site’s terms and conditions are longer than the average site but refutes claims it is engaging in anything illegal as it will not allow people to “use the service for any illegal purposes”, despite one user claiming he or she wants to hack a major bank.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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