North Koreans use fake names, scripts to land remote IT jobs at firms from US to New Zealand

North Korea has dispatched thousands of tech workers overseas to finance its nuclear missile programme

Documents unearthed by researchers reveal fraudulent resumes, interview notes and forged identities, and links between North Korea’s hackers and its IT workers

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Landing a job outside North Korea to secretly earn hard currency for the isolated country demands highly-developed strategies. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00am, 22 Nov 2023

Using fake names, sham LinkedIn profiles, counterfeit work papers and mock interview scripts, North Korean IT workers seeking employment in Western tech companies are deploying sophisticated subterfuge to get hired.

Landing a job outside North Korea to secretly earn hard currency for the isolated country demands highly-developed strategies to convince Western hiring managers, according to documents reviewed by Reuters, an interview with a former North Korean tech worker and cybersecurity researchers.

North Korea has dispatched thousands of tech workers overseas, an effort that has accelerated in the last four years, to bring in millions to finance Pyongyang’s nuclear missile programme, according to the United States, South Korea and the United Nations.

“People are free to express ideas and opinions,” reads one interview script used by North Korean software developers that offers suggestions for how to describe a “good corporate culture” when asked. Expressing one’s thoughts freely could be met with imprisonment in North Korea.

A redacted online resume of a North Korean IT worker is shown in this screenshot of a report obtained by Reuters on November 20. Photo: Handout via Reuters

The scripts, totalling 30 pages, were unearthed by researchers at Palo Alto Networks, a US cybersecurity firm which discovered a cache of internal documents online that detail the workings of North Korea’s remote tech workforce.

The documents contain dozens of fraudulent resumes, online profiles, interview notes, and forged identities that North Korean workers used to apply for jobs in software development.

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North Koreans use fake names, scripts to land remote IT jobs at firms from US to New Zealand

North Korea has dispatched thousands of tech workers overseas to finance its nuclear missile programme Documents unearthed by researchers reveal fraudulent resumes, interview notes and forged identities, and links between North Korea’s hackers and its IT workers

North Korea has dispatched thousands of tech workers overseas to finance its nuclear missile programme

Documents unearthed by researchers reveal fraudulent resumes, interview notes and forged identities, and links between North Korea’s hackers and its IT workers