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Are you willing to hack on and take controller of Chinese websites for a random someone for up to $ 100,000 a month ?
Someone is making precisely that tantalizing , bizarre , and understandably unelaborated caper go . The person is using what looks like a serial of phoney accounts with avatar display photos of attractive women and sliding into the lineal messages ofseveralcybersecurityprofessionalsandresearchersonXin the last couple of week .
“ We are recruiting webshell engineers and teams to penetrate Chinese internet site worldwide , with a monthly remuneration of up to $ 100,000 . If you are interested , you’re able to link up our TV channel first , ” register the message , which include a link to a Telegram groove .
For some reason , I also received this message from an ten account named “ count at my home page , ” which had a username , @JerelLayce88010 , that look like it was randomly generated .
When I followed the link , I was capable to see the admin of the channel , someone who goes by the name “ Jack ” and has an AI - sire avatar of a sea robber .
“ Are you proficient in incursion technology ? ” Jack ask me .
I am not , but I enquire Jack to tell me more about their destination .
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“ Get webshells from Chinese read domains . There is no specific target . As long as the domain is register in China , it is our target orbit , ” said Jack , referring toweb shells , programs or scripts that hackers can employ to control hack web server . “ You need to interpret China ’s CMS ” — bring up to capacity management systems , the software that runs the backends of websites — “ find loophole , and be able to hold webshells in batches . There is no upper limit to the number we involve . The more the better . This is a foresightful - term job . We can establish long - term cooperation . ”
Yes , but crucially , why ?
“ What I postulate is China ’s traffic , ” Jack said , perhaps losing longanimity with my questions .
OK , but for what ?
At this stage , Jack decidedly got tired of my questions and gave me an assignment : Get me three web shells on any knowledge base register in China so I eff you have the skills . Generously , Jack offer me $ 100 for each cut up domain .
Alas , I still do n’t have the skill to do that , nor the willingness to break the natural law . Instead I retain require interrogative , including who Jack was working for . “ Indian government , ” Jack respond , although in a subsequent chat Jack contradicted that , blaming reflexive translation , which they said they were using because Chinese is their first language .
I spoke to some of the research worker who draw Jack ’s unusual Book of Job offer , and they were also puzzled . Nobody said they have gotten a malicious link , for exemplar , or leery questions that would indicate some sort of doxing or cozenage campaign .
“ I am opine it ’s a trolling [ rather ] than some serious scourge actor , ” allege s1r1us , a security researcher who received a decimeter from one of Jack ’s sockpuppet chronicle on X. “ If they want to engage top talent this is not definitely the means . ”
The Grugq , a well - known cybersecurity expert , severalise TechCrunch that he has never escort anything like this recruiting cause . “ I have seen [ people ] asking dumb inquiry and spamming for various cybersecurity - related things , ” he say . “ But never anything like the persistent , widespread , bizarre s — from this guy wire . ”
allot to The Grugq , perhaps the goal is to taint citizenry inside China with malware , as it does n’t make sense to use Chinese domains to launchDDoS attacksor spam , because that would n’t justify the high defrayal .
“ I really ca n’t think of wtf they ’re doing , ” The Grugq reason out . “ It makes no sense . ”
And neither can anyone else , manifestly . Godspeed , Jack , in whatever adventure you are embarking on .
