The Dark Web hosts a bunch of illegal products and services. One of them concerns the cybercrime sector.
Website breach, DDoS attacks, attacks with malware until the change of school grades, you can buy one of these services by hiring a hacker.
But how much does all this cost?
A post posted on the Comparitech website examines the types of hacking services available on the Dark Web and lists their prices.
To carry out the analysis, Comparitech researchers looked at more than 100 listings from 12 different hacking services.
Prices for many of these services are negotiable based on time, range, complexity and level of risk, according to Paul Bischoff, author of the post. So Comparitech reports the average price for many of these illegal services. The selling prices normally refer to bitcoin, which Comparitech converted into US dollars.
The most expensive service on the menu was a personal attack: Usually involving defamation, legal sabotage or financial problems. Changing grades at school is the next most expensive service. All hackers require payment in advance, although some promise restitution money in case of failure.
Most hacker hires will only accept a job if they believe they can do it. Comparitech reports:
"In about 5-7% of cases, hacking is impossible."
Most of the hackers report that they can finish their work within 24 hours, although more advanced attacks can take days or weeks.
Let's look at the price list.
Personal attacks
Hackers who specialize in personal attacks sell their services for $ 551 on average. A personal attack could include some financial sabotage, legal problems or public defamation. A tactic used by hackers is to designate the victim as a buyer of child pornography.
Change of grades
Students who want a higher grade can pay someone $ 526 on average to have a hacker who can invade a school system and change grades. Available for both general education schools and universities. It is one of the most common hacking services and one of the most expensive. Some hackers also report that they may steal questions from future exams.
Violation of web pages
Website hacking costs an average of $394 and involves attacks against websites and other services hosted on the internet. A group listed by Comparitech states that it can give you access to a subject web server or in the admin panel of a website. Another group claims it could give you databases and administrator passwords.
Computer and telephone violation
Such a hacking service will cost you an average of 343 dollars. With this type of attack, the hacker breaks into the victim's computer or phone to steal data or deploy malware. The operating system doesn't seem to matter as they report that they can access Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, BlackBerry or Windows Phone.
The invasion of someone account of social media costs an average of $ 230.
In this service, the hacker will spy on or seize accounts from platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Skype, Telegram, TikTok, Snapchat and Reddit.
Malicious activity of course depends on the service. Hackers who hack into Facebook or Twitter accounts often steal credentials and give them to the buyer. Those who want to hack a WhatsApp account are likely to spy on messages or take screenshots.
Email hacking
Email hacking sells for an average of $ 241. The hacker steals the password from the victim's email service and gives it to the buyer.
In some cases, the hacker may set up an email promotion process to send the buyer copies of all of the victim's emails.
DDoS attacks
Hackers offering Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks charge an average of $ 26 an hour, although prices vary depending on the bandwidth of the attack. Some hackers charge by the hour or even the month to maintain an attack for as long as the buyer wants.
The change
In addition to prices for basic services, Comparitech said it has discovered other more specialized services.
Some hackers break into a hospital's COVID-19 vaccine databases to steal data or add a name to the vaccine list.
Others change the results of the machines searchs to raise or lower a site's ranking. Others promise they can take down a post (even if it goes viral) that a buyer made on a social network but later regretted.
