You Might Be Working with a North Korean Spy and Not Even Know It

Kim Jong Un, the Supreme Leader of North Korea, whose regime allegedly benefits from the illicit funds generated by the IT workers infiltrating global companies. Source Yahoo

“They’re not hacking from the outside. They’re sitting in your Slack channels, attending your Zoom meetings — and you don’t even know it.”— CSIS cyberintelligence report

This isn’t just hacking — it’s infiltration at scale.

A covert army of North Korean developers — masquerading as Americans, Canadians, and South Koreans — has been quietly embedding itself within some of the world’s largest corporations. According to U.S. intelligence agencies and reports from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), this isn’t freelance fraud. It’s state-sponsored infiltration designed to fund Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program — one paycheck at a time.

These IT operatives earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year by securing jobs in tech firms, then rerouting their income back to Pyongyang, dodging global sanctions with chilling precision.

🎯 This is outsourcing turned espionage.

North Korea’s digital strategy has evolved from crypto heists and ransomware to something even more insidious: entering Western economies through the front door. Remote work and the global tech talent shortage have opened a window, and Pyongyang has stormed through it.

A U.S. State Department investigation revealed that since 2018, thousands of fake identities have been used to infiltrate companies — many of them Fortune 500s. These aren’t random gig workers. They’re trained, coordinated, and loyal to a regime that knows the rules of the digital economy better than we thought.

The original stock picture (left) and an AI fake (right) used by a North Korean threat actor who posed as a U.S.-based software engineer and was hired by the cyber firm KnowBe4. (Photo credit: KnowBe4)

🧑‍💻 The startup founder who accidentally unmasked them

Harrison Leggio, founder of crypto startup g8keep, noticed something strange. After posting a developer job, 95% of the resumes he received came from applicants with suspiciously perfect backgrounds — but something felt off.

“As a joke, I asked in interviews: ‘Would you pledge loyalty to Kim Jong Un?’… And some of them said yes.”— Harrison Leggio

It wasn’t a joke anymore.

That bizarre interview moment led to the discovery that a majority of his applicants were North Korean operatives posing as U.S. engineers, using stolen or fabricated identities, manipulated voices, and sometimes even AI-generated credentials.

🤖 Deepfakes, fake firms, and digital puppets

The level of technological sophistication is staggering. North Korean IT workers use:

• Voice-altering AI for video interviews

• Deepfake documents and ID scans

• Shell companies posing as hiring agencies

• Multiple fake LinkedIn and GitHub profiles

• Simultaneous employment at several companies

Many of them don’t even apply directly. They’re subcontracted through legit-looking agencies that handle payroll, communication, and even performance reports — making it nearly impossible for hiring managers to spot the deception.

“This isn’t fraud. This is modern espionage with a UX upgrade.”— Cybersecurity analyst, 2024

Wanted by the FBI: These are some of the DPRK IT workers sought for their alleged involvement in a scheme to generate revenue for North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs through illicit cyber activities and the exploitation of remote work opportunities in U.S. companies.Source https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/dprk-it-workers

💰 Why go through all this trouble? Because they need dollars, not nukes.

North Korea is suffocating under sanctions. Traditional trade routes are cut off. Exporting coal or minerals won’t keep the economy alive — but exporting labor does.

By infiltrating foreign firms and getting paid in crypto or USD, the regime ensures a steady flow of hard currency, sidestepping the global banking system completely.

As detailed in U.N. sanctions reports, these funds are funneled directly to military and nuclear development programs, making this operation not just criminal — but a national security issue for countries across the West and Asia.

🌍 Next targets: Europe, Asia, and defense contractors

Experts believe this operation is just getting started. As remote work expands, so will North Korea’s digital workforce. And while tech firms are the current focus, defense, infrastructure, and government agencies could be next.

“It’s not just about stolen money. It’s about access, leverage, and long-term vulnerabilities.”— European Digital Security Council

The idea that someone in your dev team might also be an asset of the Lazarus Group — the notorious North Korean hacking unit behind billion-dollar crypto heists — is no longer a paranoid fantasy. It’s a reality many companies are completely unprepared for.

🔒 Conclusion: It Was Never About the Code — It Was About the Currency

This isn’t cybercrime. It’s strategic infiltration — economically efficient, politically invisible, and digitally undetectable.

North Korea doesn’t need to launch missiles anymore. It just needs to write clean code, pass your onboarding process, and quietly wire your money to Pyongyang.

“If North Korea can infiltrate Silicon Valley without firing a missile, maybe it’s time we redefine what national security actually means.”— Editorial note

Sources:

1. https://cyberscoop.com/north-korean-it-workers-secureworks-report/

2. “Hacking for Cash: How North Korea Uses Cyberattacks to Fund Its Regime” — Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS):

3. https://www.csis.org/analysis/hacking-cash-how-north-korea-uses-cyberattacks-fund-its-regime

4. “The Lazarus Heist: How North Korea Became the World’s Greatest Bank Robber” — Wired:

5. https://www.wired.com/story/lazarus-group-north-korea-hackers-bank-robbery/

6. https://go.recordedfuture.com/hubfs/reports/cta-2024-0130.pdf

7. https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4008826

8. https://ofac.treasury.gov/resources/sanctions-evasion-and-proliferation-financing