North Korea targets Europe, UK in fake job scam: What is it? How are hoax IT workers carrying out the fraud?

Europe, the United Kingdom in particular, is facing an unexpected threat from Kim Jong Un's North Korea – job scam.

According to a report by The Guardian, the UK has become a prime target for fake IT workers deployed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea.

As per the report, these IT workers are typically hired to work from remote locations, thereby giving them the chance to escape detection and send their wages to Kim Jong-un’s country.

The hoax IT professionals have also deployed a new tactic to threaten to leak sensitive data after being fired.

This has left companies, including elite ones like those in defence sector, in a soup.

Google reveals modus operandi of North Korea job scam

In a report earlier this month, Google said that a case came into light last year where a single North Korean employee deployed at least 12 personae in Europe and the US. This IT worker was seeking jobs in sensitive fields like the defence industry and other government sectors. Leaking data of these sectors would prove harmful to the country in general.

As per the Guardian report quoting Google’s Threat Intelligence group chief analyst John Hultquist, North Korea is targetting Europe and the UK after its plans to deploy fake workers in the US became increasingly difficult.

How does North Korea job scam work?

According to the report, the North Korea fake IT worker scam generally works with the help of ‘facilitators’. Here, people with a physical presence in a country where is target company, who unknowingly hires the fake workers, is based.

These facilitators are responsible for carrying out basic field work in a country, like obtaining fake passport and providing a physical address in the country, where laptops are sent to the IT employee when they are hired.

They then make these laptops accessible to the person working for North Korea, who does not typically reside in the same country as the facilitator.

In some cases, companies even adopt a bring your own device policy, which makes the work easier for North Korea as there is less tracking involved.

“The bottom line is their operations have a physical presence in the UK, which is the most important step to grow across multiple sectors in the country,” Hultquist was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

How to stop North Korea fake job scam?

According to Hultquist, the tactics deployed by North Korea could be stopped if companies conduct in-person or at least video interviews.

“Many of the remedies are in the hands of the HR department, which usually has very little experience dealing with a covert state adversary,” he said. “If you want to you’ve got to use background checks, do a better job checking physical identities, and ensuring the person you’re talking to is who they claim to be. This scheme usually breaks down when the actor is asked to go on camera or come into the office for an interview,” the expert was quoted as saying by The Guardian.