Thousands of Remote IT Workers Secretly Sent Wages to North Korea

IT workers worldwide unwittingly fund North Korea's weapons program

North Korean IT workers living primarily in China and Russia used false identities to secure remote jobs with companies across the U.S and other countries, where they funneled millions of dollars of earned wages to North Korea's ballistic missile program.
The North Koreans involved used various techniques to feign their presence in the U.S for these jobs, which included paying Americans to use their home Wi-Fi connections, says FBI St. Louis SAIC Jay Greenberg.
In some instances, the North Korean workers infiltrated the computer networks of the companies that hired them and stole information, maintaining access for potential future hacking and extortion schemes, according to the Justice Department.
Authorities have seized $1.5 million and 17 domain names as part of the current investigation. Companies are urged by the FBI to be extra vigilant when hiring, which includes requiring the visibility of interviewees via video calls.
While federal authorities have been aware of the scheme for some time, they did not name the companies that unknowingly hired North Korean workers, nor did they specify when the practice began or how investigators became aware of it.