They often work in the black or gray industry, mostly in the “business” of stealing information, fraud and cyber attacks, which are on the edge of the law or simply illegal. As a result of professional “particularity”, they need to hide the identity, everywhere fire prevention anti-theft police. No one will know they are “doing this” unless they come clean. The income status of this group is even more secret, with only a few bits of jianghu legend.
It must be a lot more lucrative to sell your integrity than to sell your virginity.
Surely that is what most people think.
How much do unscrupulous hackers make?
To get to the bottom of the matter, security firms Palo Alto and Ponemon pained a group of black hat hackers in the U.S. and Europe with questionnaires asking how much they had made in 2015. And actually received a serious response from 304 hackers…
It turns out that the average black hat makes just $28,744 a year, a quarter of what their white-hat counterparts (researchers working for security firms) make.
What? Robbers don’t make as much money as cops? Do you have the face to go home for Chinese New Year?
The economics of hackers
Do hackers earn so little for charity… According to the questionnaire: No. Hackers into this line of basic are running money, but rushed into this circle just found: heart is higher than heaven, life than thin paper. Based on the data the hackers “handed over,” a sum can be made up:
For each attack, hackers spend $1,367 on tools,
A hacker can do eight attacks a year,
Only 42% of these attacks are successful,
Only 59% of successful attacks make money,
The average attack that makes money makes $14,711
That’s less than $30, 000 a year for hackers who spill their integrity. As the subjects of the American emperor, how dare they dare to say hello to others when they earn so much money? No wonder they dare not admit that they are hackers. Fortunately, this income is not taxable, otherwise it is really rubbing salt in the wound.
Black hat hackers don’t have it so bad
There’s no rush to raise money for them, these hackers are probably just faking it.
The questionnaire also revealed several important statistics:
1. The average hacker spends 705 hours a year on the job.
That means they work less than two hours a day. They earn less and spend their time drinking, playing games and picking up girls while everyone else is working. If they work hard, say, eight hours a day, they can make more money than a serious security researcher in a minute.
Hackers’ tools are getting cheaper.
Despite spending an average of $1,367 on an attack in 2015, 84 percent of hackers said the price of tools had dropped sharply, and 63 percent said new tools were getting more effective. It looks like Moore’s Law holds true for hackers as well, suggesting that 2016 will be a year in which the cost of attacks will be even lower and they will make even more money.
The time needed to attack is getting shorter and shorter.
Hackers happily admit that as more new products come online, so do more bugs. In addition, their skills are more pure, tools are more powerful, peer exchanges are more and more frequent, the attack time is shorter and shorter. In that case, they can do more in 2016.
In terms of the age of the respondents, hackers aged between 18 and 40 made up most of the country. The good news is that 9% of men aged 51-60 are on the front lines of hacking. I guess hacking into someone else’s server is a lot more exciting than bringing up grandchildren and practicing tai Chi.
How much money could a hacker with “no morals” make in 2015?
[Black Hat hacker age chart]
While it may seem like black hat hacking is on the rise, it’s actually no joke. The legal risks hackers take are enormous compared to their modest earnings.
How much can Chinese black hat hackers make?
In fact, the survey has many bugs.
The researchers sent out more than 10,000 questionnaires through hacker communities and friends, but received only 3% of responses. The low response rate speaks to a question: do hackers who are busy making a lot of money have time to answer your survey? Even if the 3 percent fully represent the majority of hackers, who can guarantee that the data they fill out are true? Don’t forget, hackers are some of the most cunning people in the world. In order to prevent other hackers to grab jobs, their income to fill a few lower unknowable.
In addition, considering the interviewees, how can we miss the Chinese hackers who are in full swing under the Internet tide?
According to insiders familiar with black hat hacking, China’s black industry is not as lucrative as legend has it, but it is. At least more than the numbers on the questionnaire. After all, however, being a black hat hacker is not a bargain.
Famous white hat hacker foolish god (Wang Yingjian) to Lei Feng net once calculated an account:
To do account theft or other black business, about a million a year. But doing so is likely to get you in. If it’s five years, you get five years without any income. On average, that’s $200,000 a year. At present, network security is so hot that hackers with a certain level who work in security companies can also get 200,000 yuan a year. Earn the same money, a clear conscience, a high risk, why choose to do black industry?
So you see, even with the abandonment of moral integrity, life doesn’t get any better. Things are tough, so go back to moving bricks