Justice Department says North Koreans have infiltrated dozens of U.S. companies
U.S. authorities warn that sanctioned hackers are increasingly targeting Americans to act as facilitators between breached U.S. companies and Pyongyang.
The U.S. Department of Justice has warned that hackers linked to North Korea are increasingly relying on Americans to help infiltrate and steal data from U.S. companies. Prosecutors have indicted and arrested at least two individuals, and conducted searches of over 40 laptop farms across Texas. The computers used in these alleged hacks were reportedly shipped to unsuspecting American companies by new employees, who had used stolen U.S. citizen identities to gain employment.
Over 180 seized computers are believed to have been used by North Korean hackers to remotely access and steal sensitive data from American companies. The DOJ identified at least 70 U.S. companies across various sectors, including healthcare, cyber support, retail, communications, and manufacturing, that have been targeted. The stolen funds from these intrusions reportedly equate to around $3 million.
North Korean hackers are reportedly leveraging American facilitators to bypass detection by private sector security measures and overcome legal challenges. They employ tactics like creating convincing email addresses, fake LinkedIn profiles, and extensive online identities to conceal their activities. The FBI has reported that thousands of North Korean-controlled IT workers are employed by Western companies, posing a significant national security and intellectual property theft threat.
This latest wave of enforcement actions is part of a broader campaign targeting North Korean activities in the U.S. The regime has been using this scheme to allow North Koreans to earn wages while stealing sensitive information and intellectual property. Victim companies are then allegedly extorted into paying the hackers further.
The remote IT workers' scheme is one of several revenue streams for the North Korean regime, which is also believed to have stolen at least $2 billion in crypto during 2025 alone. Experts estimate the number of hacked companies and stolen crypto to be significantly higher than reported.
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