North Koreans allegedly used fake IDs for remote work

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday accused 14 North Koreans of serving as information technology workers for foreign companies in violation of UN sanctions. In addition to those charged, DOJ’s indictment states that about 130 North Korean workers were employed, assuming the identities of 188 Americans to land remote work jobs. Roughly $88 million in revenue over six years wound up in the pockets of the North Korean government, according to the indictment.

How did this work? The indicted individuals, who worked for two North Korean companies, digitally disguised themselves as American information technology workers using U.S. citizens’ stolen identities, the DOJ said. The North Korean workers would apply for IT jobs with companies and nonprofit organizations in the United States, sometimes setting up phony websites to indicate that they had previously worked for reputable companies.

Sometimes, the North Koreans would hire Americans to attend job interviews and work meetings on their behalf, the DOJ said. They also had Americans set up laptops in their homes. The North Koreans then instructed those Americans to download software so that the North Koreans could remotely log into the laptops, making it seem like they were working remotely from inside the United States.

The proceeds from the profits went to the North Korean government, and some of the money went directly to Kim Jong Un’s regime’s nuclear program, the DOJ said. Sometimes, to make even more money for the government, the IT workers would threaten to release proprietary software information unless the company paid them extra money, according to the indictment.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how North Korea has moved soldiers into Russia to assist the Kremlin’s efforts in the United States.