Computer hackers for hire bid on doing other people's dirty work

While debates swirl over whether it’s legal, a website opens up hacking to the general public.

A woman in California says she will pay $500 for someone to hack into her boyfriend’s Facebook and Gmail accounts to see if he is cheating on her. A man in Australia would be willing to pay up to $2,000 to get a list of clients from a competitor’s database. Other people are looking for someone to scrub the Internet of embarrassing photos and stories, retrieve a lost password or change a school grade.

The business of hacking is no longer just the domain of intelligence agencies, international criminal gangs, shadowy political operatives and disgruntled “hacktivists” taking aim at big targets. Rather, it is an increasingly personal enterprise.

At a time when huge stealth attacks on companies such as Sony Pictures, JPMorgan Chase and Home Depot attract attention, less noticed is a growing cottage industry of ordinary people hiring hackers for much smaller acts of espionage.

A new website, called Hacker’s List, seeks to match hackers with people looking to gain access to their unique set of skills. In less than three months of operation, more than 500 hacking jobs have been put out to bid on the site, with hackers vying for the right to do the dirty work.

It is done anonymously, with the website’s operator collecting a fee on each completed assignment. The site offers to hold a customer’s payment in escrow until the task is completed.

Hacking into individual e-mail or social media accounts occurs on a fairly regular basis, according to computer security experts and law enforcement officials. But it’s not clear just how successful Hacker’s List will prove to be. A review of job postings found many that had yet to receive a bid from a hacker. Roughly 40 hackers have registered with the website, and there are 844 registered job posters. From the postings, it is hard to tell how many of the job offers are legitimate.

In light of the novelty of the site, it’s hard to say whether it violates any laws.

Arguably some of the jobs being sought on Hacker’s List — breaking into another person’s e-mail account — are not legal. However, the founders of Hacker’s List contend that they are insulated from any legal liability because they neither endorse nor condone illegal activities.

The website includes a 10-page terms and conditions section to which all users must agree. It specifically forbids using “the service for any illegal purposes.”