Cybercriminals are stooping to a new low by targeting job seekers when the market is already bad: 'Where’s the good sheep for the wolf to go attack?'

New data from DNSFilter shows that cybercriminals are stooping to a new low: targeting job seekers.

The cybersecurity company found 8,724 malicious domains containing the word “jobs,” with the overwhelming majority (86%) newly registered or observed. Meanwhile, 1,161 malicious domains contained the word “careers.”

Prime targets. Gregg Jones, an intelligence analyst lead at DNSFilter, told IT Brew that while it isn’t new for cybercriminals to target job seekers, the problem has been amplified by “current world conditions” that make those on the hunt for employment especially vulnerable to scams. While the US unemployment rate stood at 4.3% in August—the most recent published figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) due to the ongoing government shutdown —job hiring has contin