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by sun_machine 1458 days ago
Only slightly related, but a Japanese friend of mine has a story of interviewing a few engineering candidates for their remote crypto company. They all applied under Japanese names, claiming they were Japanese citizens in Japan. When the interview came around, they all spoke English with a Korean accent, and when asked if Japanese would be better they admitted they could not speak Japanese. When my friend asked around it sounded like many founders in the space have encountered this profile of applicant, and many suspect these are people working for the North Korean state.

If this is indeed North Koreans trying to get remote jobs, I've been wondering if their game is: - Getting a job for themselves to bring income to their own household - Getting a job for themselves to bring income to the North Korean state. - Getting a job in a crypto company with plans of figuring out vulnerabilities and siphoning funds to themselves/the state. - Getting a job for others, and selling the service of passing the interview.

3 comments

Alert (AA22-108A) TraderTraitor: North Korean State-Sponsored APT Targets Blockchain Companies

https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-108a

Episode 119 of Darkness Diaries (podcast) is about North Korean crypto hackers, and it touches on that.

Basically, if you have the freedom to wander the internet, it's because the government provides your connection for their own government purposes.

> Basically, if you have the freedom to wander the internet, it's because the government provides your connection for their own government purposes.

This sounds so cynical. What if your freedom to wander the internet fills the same purposes?

It's number 2 - Getting a job for themselves to bring income to the North Korean state and number 3 - Getting a job in a crypto company with plans of figuring out vulnerabilities and siphoning funds to t̶h̶e̶m̶s̶e̶l̶v̶e̶s̶/the state.

The FBI has put out a warning - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/17/dont-accidenta...

Normal people are only allowed to go online in North Korea on state business.