FBI: Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea to help fund weapons program
Federal authorities say that thousands of information technology workers contracting with U.S. companies secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program.apnews.com
Thousands of IT workers contracting with US companies have for years secretly sent millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea to fund its weapons programs. They worked remotely with companies around US and used false identities to get jobs, per FBI.
According to DoJ, North Korea dispatched thousands of skilled IT workers to live in China and Russia with the goal of getting hired by companies in the US and elsewhere as freelance remote employees. In some cases the workers infiltrated company networks and stole info from them.
"the workers used various techniques to make it look like they were working in the US, including paying Americans to use their home Wi-Fi connections"
In 2022 and 2023 the gov seized $1.5 million of the revenue earned by the workers and this week it shut down 17 domains. “Employers need to be cautious about who they are hiring and who they are allowing to access their IT systems,”
Justice Department Announces Court-Authorized Action to Disrupt Illicit Revenue Generation Efforts of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Information Technology Workers
On Oct. 17, pursuant to a court order issued in the Eastern District of Missouri, the United States seized 17 website domains used by North Korean information technology (IT) workers in a scheme to defraud U.S. and foreign businesses, evade sanctions and fund the development of the Democratic...www.justice.gov
The DPRK workers used 17 websites designed to appear as if they worked for US-based IT services firms, thereby hiding their identities/location when applying for work. In truth they worked for PRC-based Yanbian Silverstar Network Technology Co and Russia-based Volasys Silver Star
