Examining cybercriminal headhunting

CyberScoop reports that cybercriminal operations have been bolstering their recruitment practices, with yearly salaries up to $1.2 million and attractive perks on offer as they seek the best talent. Developers are the most in-demand positions in the cybercrime ecosystem but threat groups have also been on the hunt for attack specialists, testers, reverse engineers, administrators, designers, testers, and analysts, a report from Kaspersky revealed. Cybercriminal operations have been offering incentives for the successful completion of assignments, as well as paid time off, employee referral bonuses, and drug-free requirements, while high salaries ranged from $20,000 to $100,000 per month although median pay had a range from $1,300 to $4,000. Even though that pay provided by cybercrime operations were "seldom significantly higher," compared with those offered by cybersecurity providers, individuals are still attracted to joining cybercrime operations, according to researchers. "Nevertheless, unhappy with their pay, a substantial percentage of employees in the legitimate economy quit their jobs to find similar employment on the dark web market. Changes on the market, layoffs, and pay cuts, too, often prompt them to look for a job on cybercrime websites," said researchers.