The U.S. has been intensifying its clampdown on North Korea's fake IT worker scheme with separate actions disclosed on Monday, reports Cybersecurity Dive.
Multiple shell companies have been established by U.S.-based facilitators Kejia Wang, Zhenxing Wang, and four others, who had collaborated with Chinese and Taiwanese individuals to compromise over 80 U.S. citizens identities and infiltrate more than 100 companies across the country between 2021 and October 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which noted the arrest of Zhenxing Wang. Such an operation enabled the compromise of data and source code from organizations, including an artificial intelligence-focused defense contractor in California. The Justice Department also noted the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's sequestration of over a dozen domains leveraged in the intrusions. Meanwhile, four North Korean nationals have been indicted over the laundering of over $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency pilfered from a blockchain research company in Atlanta and a cryptocurrency firm in Serbia as part of another law enforcement operation. "There is still work to be done and we continue to grow and adapt with this threat as it continues to evolve and change," said an FBI official.
Multiple shell companies have been established by U.S.-based facilitators Kejia Wang, Zhenxing Wang, and four others, who had collaborated with Chinese and Taiwanese individuals to compromise over 80 U.S. citizens identities and infiltrate more than 100 companies across the country between 2021 and October 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which noted the arrest of Zhenxing Wang. Such an operation enabled the compromise of data and source code from organizations, including an artificial intelligence-focused defense contractor in California. The Justice Department also noted the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service's sequestration of over a dozen domains leveraged in the intrusions. Meanwhile, four North Korean nationals have been indicted over the laundering of over $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency pilfered from a blockchain research company in Atlanta and a cryptocurrency firm in Serbia as part of another law enforcement operation. "There is still work to be done and we continue to grow and adapt with this threat as it continues to evolve and change," said an FBI official.
