Oleksandr Topchyi22:31, 20.10.23
US federal authorities say thousands of IT professionals contracted by US companies secretly sent millions of dollars to North Korea.
Thousands of IT workers contracted by American companies secretly sent millions of dollars in their salaries to North Korea for use in its ballistic missile program over the years, according to FBI and Justice Department officials .
The Justice Department said that IT professionals sent and hired by North Korea to work remotely with companies in the United States used fictitious identities to obtain the work. The money they earned was directed to the North Korean weapons program, FBI officials said at a press conference in St. Louis, the Independent writes .
Federal authorities have announced the seizure of $1.5 million and 17 domain names as part of an ongoing investigation.
Jay Greenberg, special agent in charge of the FBI’s St. Louis field office, said any company that hired IT freelancers “most likely” employed someone who participated in the scheme.
“This scheme is so widespread that companies need to be vigilant about who they hire. At a minimum, the FBI recommends that employers take additional proactive measures regarding remote IT workers to make it more difficult for attackers to hide their identity,” Greenberg said.
Officials did not name the companies that unknowingly hired North Korean workers or say when the practice began.
Court documents allege that the North Korean government sent thousands of skilled IT professionals to live mainly in China and Russia in order to trick companies in the US and other countries into hiring them as freelance remote workers.
IT professionals earned millions of dollars a year for North Korean weapons programs. In some cases, North Korean workers also broke into computer networks and stole information from the companies that employed them, the Justice Department said. They also retained access for future hacking and extortion schemes.
Greenberg said the workers used various methods to pretend they were working in the U.S., including paying Americans to use home Wi-Fi.
(C)UNIAN 2023
Face<palm 🙄
Since about 2014, we’ve been warning about various shitholes hacking into the West’s computer systems. It’s not only the United States that’s been affected and not only North Korea who’s been doing it. The bigger threats are mafia land and bat virus land.
But, just like allowing too much propaganda and fake news to circulate, our inglorious leaders did exactly nothing about these threats. Everyone was blissfully asleep at the wheel.