Title: Fraudulent North Korean IT Staff Pose as Freelancers Working in European Companies to Extract Data and Send Money Back to Their Country

IT employees from North Korea have shifted their focus to hacking European companies, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and Portugal, due to increased scrutiny from the United States and harsh penalties. This group of workers masquerades as freelancers, working remotely from various countries like Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. They apply for positions with European companies through platforms like Upwork and Freelancer, falsifying all information including education, work experience, and skills. Some individuals have created up to 12 fake profiles to apply for jobs in the corporate and government sectors.

Once hired, they opt to receive their salary in cryptocurrency through platforms like Wise and Payoneer while stealing data, manipulating it, or diverting funds back to North Korea. They sometimes threaten employers with extortion, with some who have been dismissed threatening to release sensitive information to competitors if payment is not made.

Google and experts warn that allowing employees to use personal computers for company systems (BYOD) makes it easier for them to access internal company systems since personal devices usually lack the organization’s security measures.

The FBI and authorities in the UK urge companies to revise their identity verification processes, intensify security measures, conduct video interviews, and avoid cryptocurrency payments.

Meanwhile, US companies have begun to suspect and fire North Korean IT employees after unknowingly hiring them, resulting in significant financial losses. In one case, the central government court in Mississippi sued 14 North Korean citizens for a fraudulent IT recruitment scheme that siphoned off $88 million within 6 years.

Source: Bloomberg

TLDR: North Korean IT employees now target European companies due to increased US scrutiny, using fake identities and cryptocurrency payments for data theft and extortion. US companies facing financial losses and legal action for unwittingly hiring North Korean hackers.