A new report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has revealed a sharp rise in job activity on the dark web, with a growing number of young people seeking employment in cybercrime-related roles.
The report, titled Inside the Dark Web Job Market: Their Talent, Our Threat, shows that résumés and job postings on underground forums doubled in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, and remained steady into 2025.
According to the findings, résumés now outnumber vacancies 55 to 45 per cent, driven by global layoffs and a surge of younger applicants. The median age of job seekers is 24, with a notable presence of teenagers.
Kaspersky said most of the jobs advertised were linked to illegal activities, including hacking, fraud, and money laundering, although a few legitimate roles were also observed.
“The shadow job market is no longer peripheral; it’s absorbing the unemployed, the underage, and the overqualified,” said Alexandra Fedosimova, Digital Footprint Analyst at Kaspersky.
She noted that many young people are drawn to the dark web by the promise of fast hiring and skill-based rewards, but warned that such paths often lead to legal consequences.
The report highlighted that developers made up 17 per cent of vacancies, followed by penetration testers (12 per cent), money launderers (11 per cent), carders (6 per cent), and traffers (5 per cent).
Gender patterns also emerged, with female applicants leaning toward interpersonal roles such as support and call-centre work, while male applicants targeted technical and financial-crime roles.
Reverse engineers were the highest-paid, earning over $5,000 monthly, followed by penetration testers at $4,000 and developers at $2,000. Fraudsters typically earned a share of the illicit proceeds, with traffers taking up to 50 per cent.
Kaspersky urged parents, educators, and communities to be vigilant and proactive in guiding youth toward legitimate tech careers. The company’s initiatives, such as Cyber Pathways and What We Should Do With Kids Who Hack, aim to redirect young talent into ethical cybersecurity roles.
