US warns against hiring remote workers from North Korea
IT workers from North Korea may be attempting to get remote working jobs to steal money, the US has warned.
The money for Pyongyang would allegedly help fund North Korea’s weapons programmes, in violation of international sanctions.
Many of these remote workers pretend to be from other parts of Asia, according to three US government agencies.
‘The DPRK [North Korea] dispatches thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world to generate revenue that contributes to its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes, in violation of US and UN sanctions,’ the US State Department, US Treasury Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a joint statement on Monday.
According to the statement, these remote workers are are based in North Korea and other countries, primarily China and Russia.
A small number of them are suspected to be based in Africa and South East Asia.
‘These IT workers take advantage of existing demands for specific IT skills, such as software and mobile application development, to obtain freelance employment contracts from clients around the world, including in North America, Europe, and East Asia,’ the statement added.
The document said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supports the operations of these IT workers as a significant source of foreign currency and revenue.
‘Although DPRK IT workers normally engage in IT work distinct from malicious cyber activity, they have used the privileged access gained as contractors to enable the DPRK’s malicious cyber intrusions,’ the statement added.
Companies which hire North Korean workers could face legal penalties for violating sanctions in the US.
This is hardly an empty threat as the US has previously prosecuted people for being associated with North Korea.
A US cryptocurrency developer was sentenced to five years in jail last month for helping North Korea dodge sanctions.
The same month, the FBI uncovered one of the largest cryptocurrency heists connected to hackers in North Korea. The hackers reportedly stole more than £470 million ($622 million) in cryptocurrency from Axie Infinity, a video game company.
A UN report in February also revealed North Korea’s missile programme was funded through stolen cryptocurrency.
Since then, the country has proceeded to test banned intercontinental ballistic missiles for the first time since 2017.
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