Hackers make the most of the bleak job scene

Identity thieves and hackers are setting increasingly sophisticated traps to dupe the jobless, who are evidently off guard

New Delhi: Identity thieves and hackers are turning the bleak employment situation to good account by attacking job portals and obtaining information about applicants, for which a subterranean market is in operation.

Amid the current recession, hackers are attacking corporate job sites and also setting up fake ones for collecting applicants’ personal information, Internet security firm Trend Micro said.

“Continued rising unemployment has led more people to apply online for jobs, both through online job aggregators and individual corporate sites, thus turning the job portals into a gold mine for collecting personal data,” Trend Micro Product marketing manager Abhinav Karnwal said.

Karnwal further added that in a difficult hiring climate, applicants may feel constrained to give a potential employer whatever information asked for — even if it’s her/his social security number or bank account number.

An analyst tracking the sector feels that identity thieves and hackers are setting increasingly sophisticated traps to dupe the jobless, who are evidently off guard.

The hackers usually sell the important data collected from resumes, like mobile numbers, addresses, email IDs and other personal details, in the underground economy.

Moreover, the hackers are also targeting job seekers by sending fake ‘work from home’ offers.

While the leading job portal Monster.com was not available for comment, Naukri.com said that it has not faced any incident of hacking recently.

To avoid falling prey to hacking, Trend Micro suggested that applicants should contact employers directly rather than posting resumes on a large career site that can be easily trolled by hackers.

It further suggested that if applicants do get a call, they should do some research before calling them back.