The US Department of the Treasury has sanctioned a North Korean-led fraud network involved in funding DPRK weapons programs through cyber schemes, including the use of cryptocurrency and fraudulent IT worker operations, targeting American and international companies to generate revenue for North Korea's missile and WMD programs.
The U.S. Justice Department has seized hundreds of accounts, laptops, and websites linked to a North Korean scheme where operatives posed as remote IT workers to infiltrate U.S. companies, steal intellectual property, and fund North Korea's weapons programs, with around 100 companies affected and multiple arrests made.
North Korean IT workers seeking employment in Western tech companies are using sophisticated tactics, including fake names, counterfeit work papers, and mock interview scripts, to secure remote jobs and secretly earn hard currency for the isolated country. Documents reviewed by Reuters, along with interviews with a former North Korean IT worker and cybersecurity researchers, reveal the extent of the subterfuge employed by North Korean authorities to finance Pyongyang's nuclear missile program. The documents contain fraudulent resumes, online profiles, interview notes, and forged identities used by North Korean workers to apply for jobs in software development. The scheme has become a vital source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime, with remote IT workers earning significantly more than conventional laborers.
North Korean IT workers seeking employment in Western tech companies are resorting to sophisticated tactics, including using fake names, counterfeit work papers, and mock interview scripts, to secure jobs and secretly earn hard currency for the isolated country. Documents reviewed by Reuters, along with interviews with a former North Korean IT worker and cybersecurity researchers, reveal the extensive subterfuge employed by North Korean authorities to finance Pyongyang's nuclear missile program. The scheme involves deploying thousands of IT workers overseas, who can earn significantly more than conventional laborers, and has become a vital source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime.
Russia is simplifying bureaucratic requirements for foreign IT workers to live and work in the country, allowing them to sign contracts with accredited Russian IT companies without the need for work permits. Family members of foreign software engineers are also entitled to apply for an indefinite residence permit through a simplified process after three months spent in Russia. The move comes as Russia's tech sector has been hit by the wartime exodus of Russian software engineers, with an estimated 100,000 IT workers leaving the country since the invasion of Ukraine.