Thousands of North Korean tech workers are pursuing cyber espionage from inside U.S. Crypto and IT firms. The U.S. Government is seriously alarmed about those tech people that are being dispatched to American IT Companies including crypto firms, to earn revenue for North Korea and alleged with the weapons programs, mostly violating U.S. and UN sanctions.
In the new advice, the government outlines methods for gaining access to crypto-related software and apps and identifying secret North Korean workers who provide a backdoor to malicious cyber talks by North Korean actors. These workers often hide their North Korean identities and, in some cases, pretend to be American remote gig workers using virtual private networks and servers or relying on IP addresses and identification documents from a third country.
“Hiring or supporting the activities of [North Korea] IT workers can lead to a number of risks, from theft of intellectual property, data and funds to damage to reputation and legal consequences, including sanctions under US and U.N. authorities,” the government said.
This follows an earlier government warning in April about North Korea’s presence in the blockchain and crypto industry: “The U.S. government has observed North Korean cyber actors targeting a variety of organizations, including the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency exchanges. Games, cryptocurrency trading companies, venture capital funds investing in cryptocurrency, and large holders of cryptocurrency or valuable non-fungal tokens (NFTs), “the government adviser said.
The U.S. According to the government, the U.S. North Korean technicians are not allowed on freelance worksites and are abusing payment platforms to gain deals with crypto and blockchain companies and to enter the industry. In order to reduce the risks of a crypto company accidentally hiring a North Korean, U.S. Crypto asked not to pay salaries, require biometric login verification and conduct video interviews to verify applicant identity. The government advises companies.
The American government states that it would be red if an employee constantly requested their payments in crypto or rooted their payments through Chinese bank accounts. Recently, in a high-profile case, the Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercrime company, was behind the $ 625 million cryptocurrency extortion of Oxy Infinity-linked Ronin Bridge.
The group has been stealing more than $ 200 million a year in crypto since 2018 and has been in the U.N. The Security Council requested that in addition to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s ongoing inspections in Iran, it monitor Iran’s compliance with “the steps required by the IAEA Board of”.
According to Chinese science, 60% of the total crypto stolen by North Korean cybercrime groups is ether, while less than a quarter of the cryptocurrency is stolen in Bitcoin in the Hermit Kingdom.
