Now recruiting: North Korea looks abroad for talent in its scheme to infiltrate U.S. companies

North Korea’s surreptitious push to plant employees in U.S. companies has expanded to include remote workers from other countries, such as Iran and Lebanon, according to U.S. government and foreign agencies and several cybersecurity researchers.

The scheme, estimated to involve thousands of workers applying to hundreds of American companies, generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year; the money is then laundered and used to fund the communist regime’s illicit weapons programs, according to U.S. government agencies.

U.S. authorities and companies have taken steps to counter the ruse, which has in turn pushed North Korea to get more creative. In July, the State Department and the Department of Justice put out a joint warning with several foreign agencies noting that North Korea is employing “increasingly sophisticated” tactics, including recruiting individuals outside its own country to help “obfuscate their identities and expand their activities globally.”

Government officials say North Korean teams are more frequently using people in foreign countries to participate as candidates in job interviews and sometimes establish in-person contact, in order to obtain work contracts. Once the job is secured, a North Korean agent typically takes over.

Iran is part of a growing list of countries including Syria, Lebanon…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world