Amazon blocks 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents

Amazon blocks 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents

Authorities in the US and South Korea have warned about Pyongyang's operatives carrying out online scams.

"Their objective is typically straightforward: get hired, get paid, and funnel wages back to fund the regime's weapons programs," he said, adding that this trend is likely to be happening at scale across the industry, especially in the US.

North Koreans tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities, Amazon's chief security officer Stephen Schmidt said in a LinkedIn post.

A top Amazon executive has said the US technology giant has blocked more than 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.

Amazon has seen a nearly one-third increase in job applications from North Koreans in the past year, said Mr Schmidt in his post.

He said the operatives typically work with people managing "laptop farms" - referring to computers based in the US that are run remotely from outside of the country.

The firm used a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and verification by its staff to screen job applications, he said.

The strategies used by such fraudsters have become more sophisticated, Mr Schmidt said.

Bad actors are hijacking dormant LinkedIn accounts using leaked credentials to gain verification. They target genuine software engineers to appear credible, he said, urging firms to report suspicious job applications to the authorities.

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