North Korea targets Europe, the UK in false work fraud: What is it? How do HOax IT workers do the fraud? | Mint

Europe, especially the UK, faces an unexpected threat of Kim Jong Un’s North Korea – work fraud. According to a report from The Guardian, the UK has become an excellent target for false IT workers deployed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or North Korea. According to the report, these IT workers are usually hired to work from remote places, giving them the chance to escape the detection and send their wages to the country of Kim Jong-un. The Hoax IT professional also deployed a new tactic to threaten to leak sensitive data after being fired. This has left companies, including elite like those in the defense sector, in a soup. Google reveals Modus Operandi of North Korea work fraud in a report earlier this month, Google said a case came to light last year where a single North Korean employee deployed at least 12 personae in Europe and the US. This IT worker has been looking for work on sensitive fields such as the defense industry and other government sectors. Leak data from these sectors would be harmful to the country in general. According to the Guardian report in which Google’s chief analyst of Google, Northern Korea is targeting Europe and the United Kingdom after its plans to deploy fake workers in the US has become increasingly difficult. How does North Korea work fraud? According to the report, the North Korea Fake It Worker scam generally works with the help of ‘facilitators’. Here are people with a physical presence in a country where the target business, which unconsciously hires the false workers. These facilitators are responsible for carrying out basic fieldwork in a country, such as obtaining false passport and delivering a physical address in the country, where laptops are sent to the IT employee when employed. They then make these laptops accessible to the person who works for North Korea, who usually does not live in the same country as the facilitator. In some cases, companies even assume a bring your own device policy, facilitating the work for North Korea, as there is less detection involved. “The most important point is that their operations have a physical presence in the UK, which is the most important step in growing over various sectors in the country,” Hunquist by the Guardian said. How to stop North Korea false work fraud? According to Hertquist, the tactics deployed by North Korea can be discontinued if companies have personally or at least video interviews. “Many of the drugs are in the hands of the HR section, which usually has very little experience with a secret state adversary,” he said. ‘If you like, use your background controls, do a better job of checking physical identities and ensuring that the person you are talking to is who they claim. This scheme usually breaks down when the actor is asked to go on camera or come to the office for an interview, ‘the expert said by the Guardian. First published: 20 Apr 2025, 22:02 IST