North Korean IT Workers Are Being Exposed on a Massive Scale
1 min read
Summary
A new report from cybersecurity company DTEX and principal investigator Michael ‘Barni’ Barnhart has identified two North Korean IT workers operating under the aliases Naoki Murano and Jenson Collins, who are ultimately raising money for the North Korean regime.
The report follows photos of the pair that were leaked to Dropbox and exposed their lavish lifestyle, which was in stark contrast to most of the population in the Hermit Kingdom.
It is known that the pair were based in Laos, but had relocated to Russia by 2024, raising money for the regime through cyber espionage.
Alongside the report, more than 1,000 email addresses said to be linked to North Korean IT worker activity have been published in what is one of the largest disclosures to date.
Typically, North Korean IT workers will try and infiltrate multiple companies at once, using stolen identities and false personas to try and gain legitimate employment.
They face extensive digital surveillance from the Ministry of State Security (MSS) while working.
Researchers have found they often leave a trail of digital breadcrumbs behind them.
