The United States on Monday (May 16th) issued a formal warning to companies against hiring highly qualified North Korean computer scientists who pose as foreigners and whose earnings fund
Korea's banned "
weapons programs
" North.
Read also Famine in North Korea: “People are disappearing from villages”
Pyongyang "
has deployed thousands of highly trained IT specialists around the world, who are earning money for North Korea, contributing to its weapons programs in violation of U.S. and U.S. sanctions. United Nations
”, say in this “
warning
” the departments of State and Treasury as well as the federal police.
It comes as the North Korean power, which has not responded to repeated calls for dialogue from Washington, is increasing the firing of missiles in violation of international sanctions and could, according to the American government, soon carry out its first nuclear test. since 2017.
Remote employees
Often employed remotely, these IT workers generally conceal their North Korean nationality, presenting themselves as foreigners and sometimes as teleworkers based in the United States, explain the American authorities.
Supporting a diagram, they detail the modus operandi of these incognito agents: they "
buy access to a
" relay " account
to hide their identity
", then submit "
false or falsified
" identifiers to obtain "
accounts on freelance work platforms
” and “
online payment
”, before getting a job.
The American authorities give some advice on the clues allowing them to be spotted: multiple connections to an account from various IP addresses in a short time, frequent money transfers via payment platforms - in particular to bank accounts in China --, or requests for payment in virtual currency.
Hiring these North Koreans exposes the employer to "
numerous risks
", including "
the theft of intellectual property and data
" and "
legal consequences
" for circumventing international sanctions, warned the spokesman of the American diplomacy Ned Price.
These real-fake computer scientists can also, according to Washington, "
exploit the privileged access obtained for their work for illegal purposes, such as enabling malicious cyber intrusions by other North Korean actors
”.
