There has been a surge of North Korean hackers infiltrating western companies and securing plum jobs remotely by faking profiles since 2022.

Recently a firm that has chosen to remain anonymous hired a North Korean hacker who lied about his employment history as a technician and hid his personal details. Once he gained access to the company’s computer network, by using the firm’s remote working tools to log into the corporate network, the hacker secretly downloaded as much company data as soon as possible.

After the company sacked him for poor performance, he threatened the company with ransom emails containing some of the stolen data and a demand to be paid a six-figure sum in cryptocurrency. If the company did not pay, the hacker said he would publish or sell the stolen information online. Read more about this story on our LinkedIn page