Encrypted, unindexed websites offer alluring opportunities, but there may be consequences
Jobs found on the dark web are predominantly related to cyber crime or other illegal activities, although some legitimate positions are present as well.
There exists a shadow economy where 69% of job seekers did not specify a preferred field, openly signalling they’d take any paid opportunity, from programming to running scams or high-stakes cyber operations. The most in-demand IT roles posted by employers on the dark web reflect a mature criminal ecosystem:
- Developers (accounted for 17% of vacancies) create attack tools.
- Penetration testers (12%) probe networks for weaknesses.
- Money launderers (11%) clean illicit funds through layered transactions.
- Carders (6%) steal and monetise payment data.
- Traffers (5%) drive victims to phishing sites or infected downloads.
Gender-specific patterns emerged in specialised applications. Female applicants predominantly sought interpersonal roles, including support, call-centre and technical-assistance positions. Male applicants, by contrast, more frequently targeted technical and financial-crime roles – developers, money mules or mule handlers.
Salary expectations varied sharply by specialisation. Reverse engineers commanded the highest compensation, averaging over R85,000 monthly, followed by penetration testers at R67,000 monthly and developers at R34,000. Fraudsters tended to receive a fixed percentage of a team’s income.
Money launderers average 20%, while carders and traffers earn approximately 30% and 50% of the full income, respectively. These figures reflect a premium on scarce, high-impact skills within the shadow ecosystem.
Play the long game
The shadow job market is no longer peripheral; it’s absorbing the unemployed, the underage and the overqualified. Many arrive thinking that the dark web and the legal market are fundamentally alike, rewarding proven skills over diplomas, with the dark web even offering some benefits – like offers landing within 48 hours and no HR interviews. However, not many realise that working on the dark web can lead to prison.
Young individuals contemplating dark web employment must recognise that short-term earnings carry irreversible legal and reputational consequences. Parents, educators and the community are urged to report suspicious online solicitations immediately. Children should be shown that there are multiple skill-building and career pathways in legitimate technology sectors, such as cyber security.
To steer clear, don’t follow links to suspicious-looking webpages. Never respond to unsolicited ‘easy money’ offers, especially via Telegram or obscure forums. Verify job legitimacy through official channels. If you are young, report suspicious posts to parents, guardians or authorities. No high wage is worth a criminal record.
Organisations should train employees to recognise phishing and suspicious links. Implement dark web monitoring for employee credentials and ex-staffer résumés. Train HR to spot ‘shadow experience’ in applicant histories. Mandate multi-layered fraud detection – money mules and carders are entry-level roles in larger attack chains. Continuous monitoring of dark web resources significantly improves the coverage of various sources of potential threats and allows customers to track threat actors’ plans and trends in their activities.
Text | Alexandra Fedosimova
Photography | People Images
Alexandra Fedosimova is a Digital Footprint Analyst at Kaspersky.
For more information, go to kaspersky.co.za.
