North Korean agents are thought to have flooded UK businesses with job applications as part of an effort to funnel cash into the country's nuclear weapons programme, according to experts.
The army of 100,000 operatives, posing as remote workers, are said to flood companies with applications in a bid to get hired. Once recruited, they use AI to do multiple jobs at once, with their wages diverted to the state's nuclear programme, experts said.
Targeting British companies
Adrian Cheek, a senior cyber crime researcher at firm Flare, said: "People actually go to college and university to study the techniques and the methodologies that are then rolled out straight into these organisations."
Cheek added that North Koreans had likely targeted thousands of British companies, including applying for civil servant jobs. He said: "I can see 'gov.uk One Login' so they've created profiles, which we can only assume was for the purpose of them applying for roles."
Report on North Korean workers
A new report by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team said North Korean workers operate out of 17 countries as part of the scheme that has earned an estimated £600m.
British banks and private companies are said to have also been targeted by Pyongyang agents. The claims come after the secretive state was accused of masterminding the biggest heist in history after hackers stole £4.7bn from cryptocurrency firm Binance last week.
Government response
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea, said: "We are the soft underbelly of the cyber world. They know that through us they can get into America."
The UK government said it works with international partners to disrupt North Korea's efforts to generate illicit revenue and with businesses to help companies identify suspicious activity and protect themselves.
