U.S. officials have charged five people for their suspected roles in a plan where North Korean IT workers got remote jobs with many American companies over several years.
On Thursday, the Department of Justice revealed that they have charged North Korean citizens Jin Sung-Il and Pak Jin-Song, Mexican citizen Pedro Ernesto Alonso De Los Reyes, and U.S. citizens Erick Ntekereze Prince and Emanuel Ashtor.
The Department of Justice announced that the FBI arrested Ntekereze and Ashtor. A check of Ashtor’s home in North Carolina uncovered a “laptop farm” that contained company laptops. This was used to trick organizations into believing they had hired workers located in the U.S.
Alonso was arrested in the Netherlands after the U.S. filed a warrant for him.
The indictment says that Ntekereze and Ashtor supposedly put remote access software, like Anydesk and TeamViewer, on company computers. This helped people in North Korea hide where they were. The two Americans also gave Jin and Pak fake identity papers, like U.S. passports and U.S. bank account information.
The indictment claims that the suspects got jobs at at least 64 American organizations during a scheme that lasted from April 2018 to August 2024. These included a U.S. bank, a technology company based in San Francisco, and an IT group based in Palo Alto.
The Justice Department says that payments from ten companies brought in at least $866,255, and most of this money was moved through a Chinese bank account.
“The Department of Justice is dedicated to stopping North Korea from using cyber methods to avoid sanctions. They want to prevent strategies that deceive U.S. companies into funding North Korea’s important projects, like its weapons programs,” said Devin DeBacker, a supervisor in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
On Thursday, indictments were announced shortly after the Treasury Department punished two people and four organizations for similar actions. The FBI also issued a warning that North Korean IT workers are becoming more involved in harmful activities, such as data extortion.
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The agency reported that North Korean IT workers are illegally accessing business networks to steal sensitive information, participate in cyber crimes, and generate income for the government.
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