US tech giant Amazon has revealed that it blocked more than 1,800 North Korean nationals from applying for jobs, amid rising concerns that Pyongyang is deploying IT workers overseas to generate and launder funds.
In a LinkedIn post, Amazon’s Chief Security Officer, Stephen Schmidt, said North Koreans have increasingly sought remote IT roles at global companies, particularly in the United States. He disclosed that Amazon recorded a nearly 33% increase in such applications over the past year.
Schmidt explained that many of the applicants operate through so-called “laptop farms,” where computers are physically located in the US but remotely controlled from abroad. He warned that the threat extends beyond Amazon and is likely widespread across the tech industry.
Common red flags identified include improperly formatted phone numbers and questionable academic qualifications.
The issue has previously attracted the attention of US authorities. In July, a woman in Arizona was sentenced to over eight years in prison for running a laptop farm that enabled North Korean IT workers to obtain remote jobs at more than 300 US companies. The scheme reportedly generated over $17 million in revenue for both the woman and North Korea.
South Korea’s intelligence agency also warned last year that North Korean operatives were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters, targeting South Koreans working in defence firms in attempts to steal sensitive technology.
“North Korea is actively training cyber personnel and infiltrating key locations worldwide,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. He added that economic gain and potential financial theft are major motivations behind such operations.
North Korea’s cyber warfare programme dates back to the mid-1990s and has since expanded into a unit of about 6,000 personnel known as Bureau 121, according to a 2020 US military report.
In November, the United States imposed sanctions on eight individuals accused of state-sponsored hacking, alleging their activities were aimed at funding North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. The US Treasury has also accused North Korea-linked cybercriminals of stealing more than $3 billion in the past three years, largely through cryptocurrency-related crimes.
