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   Google warns North Korean spies are gaining positions in Western firms   
      
   Date:   
   Wed, 02 Apr 2025 16:13:00 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   North Korean hackers are posing as legitimate IT workers, Google experts warn.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
    - Google's Threat Intelligence Group has identified more threats from the   
   DPRK   
    - North Korean hackers pose as IT workers to get jobs in Western firms   
    - This brings a host of security threats for companies   
      
   A new report by Googles Threat Intelligence Group has warned of an expansion   
   of operations by the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea).    
      
   The researchers claim an increasing number of Western firms accidentally   
   hiring North Korean IT workers who are raising funds for the regime.    
      
   These workers pose a serious security threat to organizations, which are at   
   risk of data theft, disruption, and espionage.   
      
   Extortion tactics    
      
   This is part of a much wider campaign from the DPRK which has seen   
   state-sponsored threat actors infiltrate dozens of Fortune 100 companies ,   
   resulting in as much as $6.8 million in revenue earned for the DPRK.    
      
   This led to the US Justice Department arresting several US citizens who were   
   running laptop farms which house US equipment sent to new employees - the   
   facilitators installed remote access technology allowing workers from the    
   DPRK to log in.    
      
   Google also located facilitators in both the US and UK sharing equipment,   
   indicating a complex logistical chain.    
      
   An investigation into the campaigns infrastructure revealed a heightened   
   interest in Europe, and a global expansion of tactics from the DPRK and an   
   increased volume of extortion attempts.    
      
   The threat intelligence group identified cases where recently fired IT    
   workers threatened to release their former employers sensitive data or to   
   provide it to a competitor including proprietary data and source code for   
   internal projects.    
      
   To combat this phenomenon, Google reports that many companies are operating a   
   bring your own device policy , but these often lack traditional security and   
   logging tools and make threat detection much more difficult, dramatically   
   increasing a risk in undetected malicious activity.    
      
   The increase in extortion campaigns coincided with heightened United States   
   law enforcement actions against DPRK IT workers, including disruptions and   
   indictments. This suggests a potential link, where pressure on these workers   
   may be driving them to adopt more aggressive measures to maintain their   
   revenue stream.   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/google-warns-north-korean-spies-are-gai   
   ning-positions-in-western-firms   
      
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