North Korean hackers pose as freelancers to hack companies around the world

The US government has warned that North Korea is sending its IT workers to freelance work for companies

around the world to receive privilegedaccess, which is used for cyber hacking. According to them, thousands of North Korean "highly skilled IT workers" take freelance jobs with organizations in other countries.

They use various methods to hidetheir North Korean origins in order to avoid US and United Nations (UN) sanctions against individuals and entities supporting the regime in the DPRK.

The report notes that while the North Koreans are notalways involved in cyber-hacks, "they use privileged access obtained as contractors to carry out malicious DPRK cyber-hacks." Some of them aided North Korea's hacking operations by providing access to infrastructure or assisting in money laundering and virtual currency transfers.

In some cases, DPRK mercenaries postedemployees working in companies in China, Russia, Africa and Southeast Asia helped sell data stolen in attacks by North Korean hackers.

In order to occupy the desired position, North KoreanIT workers often pretend to be freelancers based in the US or another country. They also pose as South Korean, Chinese, Japanese or Eastern European professionals.

To hide your identity and impersonatefrom a non-sanctioned country, North Korean IT workers frequently change names, use virtual private networks (VPNs) or IP addresses from other regions.

They often use proxy servers on variousjob bidding platforms, and buy accounts from people who do not have a clear DPRK affiliation on their profile, and take advantage of that person's work experience to get a freelance job more easily.

“Use of fake IDs(sometimes stolen), forged signatures, special devices for each account and banking services — these are part of the typical methods by which the North Koreans evade detection, sanctions, and money laundering efforts,” the report noted.

In some cases, after getting a freelance job at the company, they also recommended other IT workers from the DPRK.

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