Cybercriminals shift to recruiting paid insiders

Cybercrime syndicates are pivoting from traditional hacking to a more insidious and efficient method: recruiting paid insiders within major corporations, GBHackers News reports.

A marked increase in darknet solicitations reveals attackers are targeting discontented or financially vulnerable employees at banks, telcos, and tech giants, offering $3,000 to $15,000 for network access or sensitive data. This strategic shift exploits human factors to bypass technical defenses entirely, with sophisticated campaigns using financial incentives and psychological appeals, such as one July effort urging workers to "escape the endless work cycle."

The finance and cryptocurrency sectors, including exchanges like Coinbase and Binance, are primary targets, where stolen datasets can fetch over $25,000. Insiders at technology firms like Apple and Samsung, as well as cloud providers, are also being pursued to enable supply chain attacks. Some schemes even propose recurring "salary-like" payments for continuous data feeds from targets like tax agencies, signaling a dangerous evolution toward sustained, human-enabled breaches.