San Francisco, December 24: Amazon has blocked more than 1,800 North Korean nationals from applying for jobs, the company said, highlighting growing concerns over efforts by Pyongyang to place IT workers in overseas firms to generate and launder funds.
In a post on LinkedIn last week, Amazon Chief Security Officer Stephen Schmidt said North Korean workers have been attempting to secure remote IT jobs with companies around the world, particularly in the United States. He said Amazon had seen nearly a one-third increase in such applications over the past year.
Schmidt said the workers often rely on so-called “laptop farms,” in which computers located in the United States are operated remotely from abroad to give the appearance that the employee is U.S.-based.
“The issue isn’t Amazon-specific,” Schmidt said, adding that the practice was likely occurring “at scale across the industry.”
He said common warning signs included incorrectly formatted phone numbers and questionable academic credentials submitted as part of job applications.
U.S. authorities have increasingly warned that North Korea deploys thousands of IT workers overseas to generate revenue for the state, circumventing international sanctions. In July, a woman in Arizona was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for running a laptop farm that helped North Korean IT workers obtain remote jobs at more than 300 U.S. companies, according to officials.
The scheme generated more than $17 million in revenue for both the woman and North Korea, authorities said.
Security agencies in South Korea have also raised alarms. Seoul’s intelligence service warned last year that North Korean operatives had used LinkedIn to pose as recruiters, approaching South Koreans employed at defence companies in an effort to obtain sensitive information about military technologies.
The disclosures underscore growing scrutiny by governments and companies over the risks posed by remote hiring, as firms tighten security checks to prevent fraud, sanctions violations and potential espionage.
