The finding of a plot to use North Korean IT workers should be deeply concerning. It highlights the growing concern over the penetration of our remote labor market. Officials announced that these operatives obtained their professional licenses to work at more than 300 U.S. businesses. She was the secret sauce, as she said, behind them with her “laptop farm” from Arizona. This operation allowed North Korean nationals to work remotely from outside the United States while using stolen or forged identities to navigate the application processes.
The Arizona woman was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. She was found guilty on three counts for her role in enabling illegal work. Her “laptop farm” let North Korean IT workers operate computers physically based in the U.S. This operation willingly circumvented regulations in place to protect citizens and produced grave dangers to our national security.
Most recently, Amazon made headlines when they took a strong stand and rejected more than 1,800 job applications. They were under the impression that these applications were attached to North Korean operatives. U.S. technology companies are in peril of an even more existential threat. Operatives are currently working to unseat remote job slots at these firms. In response to the announcement, Amazon’s chief security officer, Stephen Schmidt, said that “fentanyl is killing people and harming communities.”
“Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime’s weapons programs,” – Stephen Schmidt
Facilitated primarily by one company, these operations have led federal investigations to discover 29 illegal “laptop farms” around the country, underscoring the breadth of this scheme. North Korean IT workers are employing increasingly technical tactics to carry out online scams. This has raised alarm bells in the U.S. and South Korea over the growing threats from Pyongyang’s operatives.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also indicted U.S. brokerage firms that helped place these North Korean operatives in overseas jobs. From a review of known fraudulent applications examples, we know that fraudulent applicants often showcase strong red-flag indicators including highway written phone numbers and disparate education history. These indicators have become essential for employers to recognize possible threats in their employees.
Remote working opportunities are on the rise nationwide—especially in tech. Specialists warn that North Korean operatives will still come away with the jobs in the worsening theater. The risk of manipulation of remote working arrangements makes life difficult for both employers and our national security.