North Korean Imposters Are Infiltrating the Web3 Jobs Scene - What We Know

A report by DLNews points to mounting evidence that North Korean nationals are flooding crypto jobs boards with fake applications, the imposters looking to infiltrate crypto companies to conduct malicious activities.

“mounting evidence suggests a number of these bogus applicants appear to be North Korean nationals who are trying to infiltrate crypto projects for nefarious purposes, including gathering sensitive data, hacking, and stealing assets”, wrote DLNews

According to the United Nations Security Council, a whopping 4,000 North Koreans have been given the task of infiltrating the Western technology hiring industry, and said scheme earns North Korea around $600 million every year.

A security researcher at MetaMask reportedly told DLNews that…

“They have very limited amounts of resources they can sell to China… So they generate revenue by doing things like illegally selling resources, IT work, hard labour, and hacking”

According to reports, some North Korean imposters can earn as much as $60,000 per month through multiple different roles and jobs. North Korean authorities then take the vast majority of these earnings.

How to Spot North Korean Imposters…

The risks of hiring malicious actors is even higher in Web3 than in other sectors. This is due to the trend of hiring anonymous/pseudonymous developers and employees for cryptocurrency projects.

While there is no way to tell for certain whether or not an applicant is malicious and/or North Korean in nature, there appear to be some telltale signs to watch out for. These include…

• Candidates refusing to turn on their video camera during interviews.
• Blurred backgrounds with evidence that multiple other people are in the room during the interview.
• Refusal to undergo background/reference checks.
• Suspicious addresses and CV details.

As mentioned, there is no surefire way to detect whether or not a candidate is malicious or fake in nature, and Web3 projects and hirers are urged to conduct as thorough interview/DD process as possible, to avoid falling prey to this rising threat.