Security News > 2022 > May > FBI warns of North Korean cyberspies posing as foreign IT workers

The FBI, in a joint advisory with the US government Departments of State and Treasury, has warned that North Korea's cyberspies are posing as non-North-Korean IT workers to bag Western jobs to advance Kim Jong-un's nefarious pursuits.

North Korean IT workers may accept foreign contracts and then outsource those projects to non-North-Korean folks.

An overseas DPRK IT worker earns at least ten times more than a conventional North Korean laborer working in a factory or on a construction project overseas.

DPRK IT workers can individually earn more than $300,000 a year in some cases, and teams of IT workers can collectively earn more than $3 million annually.

Anyone who hires or supports North Korea government-backed workers, including processing financial transactions, may face legal consequences themselves.

According to the alert: "These IT workers take advantage of existing demands for specific IT skills, such as software and mobile application development, to obtain freelance employment contracts from clients around the world, including in North America, Europe, and East Asia.".

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/fbi_korea_freelancers/