Company hires remote IT worker, only to discover he's a cybercriminal: Here's what happened
In a bizarre turn of events, a company that brought on an IT professional for remote work found itself at the center of a fraud scheme when the hired expert turned out to be a cybercriminal who subsequently hacked into the organisation.
According to BBC reports, an unidentified company fell victim to fraud after hiring a technician who had fabricated his employment history and personal information.?
The individual, who turned out to be a North Korean cybercriminal, gained access to the company's computer network, where he downloaded sensitive data and issued a ransom demand.
Secureworks revealed that the hacker, believed to be male, was contracted by the firm during the summer.?
He utilised the company¡¯s remote work tools to log into their network and secretly extracted as much data as he could once inside the internal systems.?
Over four months, he received a salary while executing this scheme.
Researchers suggest that his earnings were likely funnelled back to North Korea through a complex money-laundering operation designed to bypass Western sanctions.?
After the company terminated his contract due to unsatisfactory performance, they received ransom emails containing some of the stolen data, along with a demand for a six-figure payment in cryptocurrency.?
The hacker threatened to release or sell the stolen information online if the ransom wasn't paid.
This incident is part of a broader network of fraudulent schemes involving North Korean IT workers. Since 2022, authorities and cybersecurity experts have raised alarms about an increase in covert North Korean operatives infiltrating Western businesses.
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