Have you ever wanted to hijack someone's website and cause all kinds of trouble? Access a protected system that you'd otherwise have no access to? Find out the secrets of your business rival? Probably not. However, there are some people who would love to, and even more would love to help. That's where the recently started Hacker's List offers.
The New York Times recently reported on Hacker's List, a site dedicated to offering civilians and laymen the opportunity to hire hackers for their personal purposes. The site was started by an anonymous account and offers the chance for everyday people to post their needs and how much they're willing to pay for the job. In the site's three months of existence, over 500 jobs have been posted
The site's owners said that the idea for Hacker's List came about in a drunken stupor. One day, three Australian friends talked about starting a site for the hacker niche. Before they knew it, one of them (who calls himself "Jack") had built the site and postings flooded in.
The jobs varied, from hacking a boyfriend's Gmail account for $500 to hacking a landlord's website for $2,000. Some people wanted corporate espionage done, while others just wanted their pictures removed from the Internet. The owners charge a small fee to run the content on their site.
As the months pass by, more "ethical hacking" sites like Hacker's List are coming out. These hackers are willing to offer their services as long as they are working within the parameters of the rules. This decision means that they're more like "personal investigators" than the hackers that we see Hollywood create.
While this might seem like a good idea to some, Thomas G.A. Brown (former manager of the computer unit of the U.S. Attorney's office) told the NYT that sites like this "permit nontechnical individuals to launch cyber attacks with a degree of deniability."
The creators seem to note this and have been very explicit about what kind of jobs they're willing to host. The site has 10-pages of legal conditions that determine their relationship with the hacker and what jobs they are willing to post. The creators also consulted legal experts on how to format the site to avoid becoming accomplices in future cyber crime.
If you're in the market for a hacker willing to work within the restraints of the law, Hacker's List is your best source.
