- Amazon has blocked more than 1,800 suspicious apps from the DPRK since April 2024
- Microsoft says 300 US companies hired DPRK workers between 2020 and 2022
- Monitoring human behavior is a good starting point, AI can help even more
Amazon has blocked more than 1,800 suspicious North Korean apps from joining the company since April 2024, it revealed.
“Their goal is usually simple: get hired, get paid, and funnel salaries to fund the regime’s weapons programs,” the company’s chief security officer, Stephen Schmidt, wrote in a LinkedIn post.
The company is using artificial intelligence and human verification to eliminate “anomalies” and “geographical inconsistencies” to rule out such apps, and detections of DPRK-affiliated apps are up 27% this year.
North Korean citizens try to get jobs in big technology companies
The scams involve real developers using fake or stolen identities to apply for remote jobs at US and European companies, and emerging artificial intelligence tools are proving highly successful in strengthening their cases. Artificial intelligence and fake social media profiles are used to strengthen the apps, while deepfakes are even used to (attempt to) pass off video interviews.
However, while Amazon has been able to leverage AI to identify even more fake apps, detection is becoming more difficult as scammers hijack unused LinkedIn accounts of real engineers using stolen credentials.
While the technology may be helping Amazon’s security team identify fake apps, some signs are still clear to the human eye. For example, Schmidt says the team often sees applicants citing an education from a university that does not offer the requested course. Some formatting details also stand out, such as adding the international ‘+’ symbol to phone numbers.
The CSO urges victims of false applications from the DPRK to report them to the FBI and local authorities.
Amazon is not the only company facing these threats. Just six months ago, Microsoft shared similar findings, noting that North Korean remote IT workers are using AI to enhance photos, swap faces on stolen IDs, adjust their job applications, and even use voice-changing software.
According to Microsoft, more than 300 US companies, including Fortune 500 companies, unknowingly hired these types of workers between 2020 and 2022.
The Redmond report suggests monitoring strange behavior, such as using foreign IPs and VPNs, never appearing on camera on video calls, and working odd hours.
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