Cybergangs Are Using Online Ads to Recruit Workers to Link Malicious Code

Hackers have entered the job market, and they're advertising online for the next cybercrook candidate willing to link malicious code to popular subject matters.

At least two companies are hiring potential cybercrook candidates, according to findings presented by security experts at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference outside Washington. Cyberthieves are looking for people who are willing to take malicious code and link it to something people will click on, such as a something as simple as a picture of Paris Hilton getting out of a car.

The crooks behind this scheme collect a fee every 1000 times that the malware is downloaded. One site offers $180 for every 1000 times that malware is downloaded onto a US computer but less for computers elsewhere. However, the site says it won't pay for any downloads to Russian computers, causing experts to suspect that these hackers are based in Russia.

Sites advertising this scam reads:

"We pay your wages via the following systems: Fethard, WebMoney, Wire, e-gold, Western Union (WU), MoneyGram, Anelik and ePassporte, and PayPal."

With all those options you would be hard pressed to turn down this wonder full offer, right? More the reason to ask questions before falling for this trick.

Experts at the conference said it was impossible to know how many computers were infected through these companies but expect it to be close to millions. Security professionals in the audience for the presentation were seen laughing at how blatant the websites were.

It's hard to separate theft arising from these web sites from other sorts of Internet crime but the FBI has counted $264 million in losses from Internet crime reported by individuals in 2008. The report for 2009 has yet to be released but expected to be just as bad or worse.

In today's economy, wouldn't it be hard to turn down an offer to do a job that only requires you perform simple tasks online especially if you have no idea that you are aiding in a potential cyber scam scheme? In the case of recent cybergangs recruiting workers, it is just too good to be true.