Thousands of information technology (IT) workers contracted with U.S. companies have been secretly sending millions of dollars of their wages to North Korea’s ballistic missile program, as revealed by the FBI and Department of Justice officials. The workers, dispatched and contracted by North Korea, have been using false identities to obtain remote IT jobs in the U.S. The money they earned was funneled into the North Korean weapons program. Court documents suggest that North Korea sent skilled IT workers primarily to China and Russia, where they deceived U.S. businesses into hiring them as freelance remote employees. The workers employed various techniques to make it appear as though they were working in the U.S., including paying Americans to use their home Wi-Fi connections.
The scheme is so prevalent that the FBI emphasizes the need for companies to be extra cautious in verifying the identities of their freelance IT workers. Any company that hired such workers is likely to have unwittingly participated in the scheme. The North Korean IT workers generated millions of dollars each year to benefit North Korea’s weapons programs. In addition to funneling funds, they also obtained unauthorized access to the computer networks of the companies that employed them, stealing information and gaining a foothold for potential hacking and extortion activities. The Justice Department announced the seizure of $1.5 million and 17 domain names as part of the investigation into the ongoing scheme.
Federal authorities have been aware of this practice for some time, although specific details such as the names of the companies involved and when the scheme began have not been disclosed. The FBI urges companies to take additional precautions when hiring freelance IT workers, including conducting video interviews to ensure the authenticity of the applicants. The investigation into this operation sheds light on the extent to which North Korea is covertly employing its IT workforce to fund its ballistic missile program and engage in cyber espionage activities.
