41–50 of 141 posts
> We also noticed vague cover letter language: Sadly, the examples in the article are as good as, or better, than letters I've received from US-based devs.
Actually suspected? There's nothing in the article that shows they were from North Korea.
I had similar experiences at my last employer when hiring last fall. In both cases, the fraud was easily made plain when I asked details about their work history. In one case, they claimed to live in the same metro area I had previously lived for 18 years, but couldn’t answer any basic questions about the place. In another situation, they claimed a workplace that was in a community I was familiar with and that was fa…
The people I've known from China and Korea have a tendency to adopt traditional English names (Steve, Joe, Mike, etc) because their native names are hard to pronounce for English speakers.
Further, the 2nd generation Asian Americans I've met do often have traditional English names.
The CIA is responsible for scores of human rights atrocities and far-right coups.
North Korean engineers aren't nearly as scary as a "Trust and Safety" company founded by ex-CIA operatives.
North Korean engineers aren't nearly as scary as a "Trust and Safety" company founded by ex-CIA operatives.
I’d guess that there’s a chance that they specifically targeted this company
What an unempathetic read for "worker applies to remote job and going through the incredibly uncomfortable but no less than the necessary desperate steps to try and keep it." Sure you have to reject them due to sanctions but in their absence, would you still? I'm sure there are spies and clearly this company uncovered an operation, but it's hard to judge because I would try it if it meant I could make US money. Becau…
That's just reality in North Korea. It's not any of the ordinary citizens' faults, but they all essentially have to be assumed to be coerced puppets of the state if they're perpetrating such application fraud. (Though, really, a company shouldn't be accepting fraudulent applicants even if they aren't spies.) I'm sure there are plenty of North Koreans who are qualified (whether they are or aren't working for state int…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From my discussions with various LE agents and attending a few talks, NK will send them off to some of the best colleges in either India or China to learn programming, computer science, networking, hacking, and etc. to learn and get a good education. Then they either travel back to NK to become part of something like Lazarus Group (NK nation-state hacking group), or they get assigned to something like this employee s…
I'm sure they have a few thousand such candidates out and about. But surely insignificant to the hundreds of millions in China, India, Indonesia etc. Why DPRK when the alternatives are so much more numerous? The entire population of DPRK is only 26mil, the entire country is half the size of the city Jakarta. Most Americans probably outright lie on their CV, that tells you nothing.
If I had to guess, likely because the NK workers are highly motivated to succeed under threats of duress and threats involving their families/own life.
I dont think these employers are willingly hiring DPRK workers over other countries, likely more so that DPRK are more ruthless and aggressive with their application applying processes and have it dialed in pretty well using shared intel and techniques to improve their success rates. Afterall, it is a nation-state backed campaign so they have a lot of resources to put into it.
"Cinder is part of a growing list of US-based tech companies that encounter engineering applicants who are actually suspected North Korean nationals. " Actually suspected? There's nothing in the article that shows they were from North Korea.
Not because I somehow vehemently disagree, but because I think this just lazy writing, and confusing general trends with a boogie man, just because the boogie man follows the general trends.
BLUF: Yes, North Korean (and other nation state, organized crime group) spies apply to jobs to gain access. None of your indicators of value even cumulatively. Do better.
> No online presence outside of professional networking websites
I do not, and there is whole group of young people do not have an (reasonably traceable) online presence. I have better things to do in my off time than prattle about my bowel movement online for some validation of my existence.
> Completely fabricated job history including office locations that don’t actually exist.
I will give the author this. This is a red flag pointing to someone who is unethical, not that they are NorKs.
> Unable to find these applicants online outside of the standard ...
This is the same as the first one.
> Inability to answer basic questions about the cities in which they allegedly worked
Eh.. I do not remember what I ate for breakfast. That that make me a NorK? I used to commute in a big city for a year. No idea what stop I would have gotten off, or even what line it was that I used. Such things become almost autonomous and forgotten as extraneous information.
> Background noise during their interview that indicated other people speaking in an interview-like setting
Possibly. Or, they work in a coding shop that has the "genius" of open cubicles for some collaboration. This is a red flag pointing to someone who is unethical, not that they are NorKs.
> Highly scripted answers with explicit preference for remote work, and little ability to deviate from the script.
Oh? Are you saying that the interview questions are not scripted questions?
> A mismatch between the name displayed on the resume or networking site, and the candidate’s command of English (e.g. Chris Smith...
I think if the name is "mismatch" this might be a thread to pull. How is the jump to NorK here? Why not Iranian or Russian?
Additionally, have you worked in some STEM research lab lately? Recently I was talking to some and I could not understand a single sentence. Not one. I had to ask them to write it down and I used my bad hearing as an excuse. Some of the lab workers' names would pass for North American. This was in an English speaking country.
Those cover letters are exactly what the recruiting industry is asking the plebeians to generate.
> Taken together, to me these details suggested fake identities.
Indeed it would make me discount the individual to some extent. Jumping to North Korean spy is a wee bit of a leap, at least for me.
> “100% Remote job only without travel”
Or, in general majority of job seekers no longer want to come to the office.
https://www.engage2excel.com/resource/1-2024-job-seeker-surv... (68% would leave job if forced to come in)
https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/remote-wo...
> I started informing candidates...
Why was the travel requirement not included in the initial job postings?