North Korean IT workers are infiltrating tech companies, using the proceeds to fund their nuclear weapons program
On October 2, according to CoinDesk, dozens of cryptocurrency companies unknowingly hired IT workers from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including mature blockchain projects such as Injective, ZeroLend, Fantom, Sushi, Yearn Finance, and Cosmos Hub. These workers used fake IDs, successfully passed interviews, passed background checks, and provided real work experience.
In the United States and other countries that have sanctioned North Korea, hiring North Korean workers is illegal, and multiple companies that hired North Korean IT workers were subsequently hacked. Prominent blockchain developer Zaki Manian stated: "Everyone is trying to filter these people out." He inadvertently hired two North Korean IT workers to help develop the Cosmos Hub blockchain in 2021.
U.S. authorities have recently stepped up warnings that North Korean IT workers are infiltrating tech companies and using the proceeds to fund nuclear weapons programs. An investigation found that North Korean job seekers are particularly aggressive and frequent in targeting cryptocurrency companies - successfully passing interviews, passing background checks, and even displaying impressive code contribution histories on the open-source software repository GitHub.
