Amazon says it has blocked more than 1,800 job applications linked to suspected North Korean IT operatives, according to the company’s chief security officer, Stephen Schmidt.
In a LinkedIn post, Mr Schmidt said the applicants used fake or stolen identities to apply for remote IT roles, with the aim of earning salaries that could be sent back to fund North Korea’s weapons programmes.
Amazon has seen a nearly 30% increase in such applications over the past year. The operatives often rely on “laptop farms”—computers physically based in the US but remotely controlled from abroad—to appear as if they are working domestically.
The company uses a mix of AI-powered screening tools and human review to detect suspicious applications. Warning signs include incorrect phone number formats, inconsistent education histories, and hijacked LinkedIn accounts used to appear credible.
US and South Korean authorities have warned that these operations are widespread across the tech industry. In June, the US Department of Justice uncovered 29 illegal laptop farms and indicted several individuals who helped North Korean workers secure jobs.
In July, an Arizona woman was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for running a laptop farm that generated over $17 million for herself and the North Korean regime.
Source: BBC