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North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

yahoo.com

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Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#71

Post by pyrale »

atoav wrote: post #63
donnachangstein wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you seriously comparing Australia to... North Korea?

It is a comparison between a North Korean practise to an apparently similar Australian practise. The ideology each state has nothing to do with the risk coming from employing people who can be compelled to follow such rules.

I understand your point, and that law is a problem. But there is a big difference between a law and a practice. In the case of NK, we have a long, documented trail showing that the country controls its foreign nationals. Despite that law, the same is not true of Australia.

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#72

Post by gedy »

iJohnDoe wrote: post #10

I don’t understand this. There are well qualified legitimate candidates desperate for a job. How are North Koreans getting these jobs instead? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43612448

This mentions the Fortune 500, and some of the financial companies I'm familiar with treat IT like janitors and have no qualms getting the lowest crap devs whom they can boss around. They don't want good devs and someone part of a team.

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#74

Post by mrheosuper »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #13

This part is genius: > Nowadays, Leggio told Fortune he won’t even set up an interview with a candidate who seems promising on paper unless they agree to one final step. “Say something negative about Kim Jong Un,” Leggio tells potential job candidates, referring to the third-generation authoritarian Supreme Leader of North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Through research, Leggio le…

I wonder if "double talk" work here. After all this is similar to "what is your weakness" interview question, but the subject is Kim jong un instead of you

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#75

Post by suraci »

throwaway_ab wrote: post #20

A flagged post mentions this is racist and typical anti immigration rhetoric. That's not true, there are only two types of North Korean people you'll meet, either those that have defected and escaped North Korea or those that are agents of the state of North Korea. There are very few defectors in existence and once they escape they're given full South Korean citizenship. This article is not about those people. The va…

[flagged]

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#76

Post by suraci »

plsbenice34 wrote: post #37
throwaway_ab wrote: post #20

A flagged post mentions this is racist and typical anti immigration rhetoric. That's not true, there are only two types of North Korean people you'll meet, either those that have defected and escaped North Korea or those that are agents of the state of North Korea. There are very few defectors in existence and once they escape they're given full South Korean citizenship. This article is not about those people. The va…

What about Australia in comparison? Australians can be legally compelled in secret courts to install backdoors in the companies in which they are employed, and gagged from telling the company itself or any journalists (see the Access and Assistance Bill). That doesn't cross the same 'agents of the state' line?

Just like the United States, Australia is a civilized, democratic, and free country, which is different from North Korea and China

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#77

Post by roenxi »

itake wrote: post #53
hhjinks wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't, because every Australian leaving Australia is not compelled to do so by said secret courts. 1 >>>>> e-100000

it doesn't need to be every Australian. It only needs to be Australians that get jobs at fortune 500 companies. Australians don't even need to leave the country to be hired and compelled.

I'm pretty sure I see where you're going there, but hhjinks' argument covers that. Even if the Aus. government makes someone an agent retroactively after hiring the odds are still much smaller that an Australian is a government agent. Because every NK citizen is assumed to be an agent, but only some Australians become agents, retroactive or otherwise.

Besides, if we wanted information about Fortune 500 companies we'd presumably ask the US intelligence services or directly infiltrate their network from an Australian office. Many of them have a pretty big attack surface from the Australian perspective.

TLDR; hire Australians.

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#78

Post by pyrale »

labster wrote: post #48
jgilias wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think that’s going to work for long. A typical defender/attacker dynamic at play.

Who is the attacker and who is the defender? Can the candidate be sure that the person asking that question isn’t secret police?

I believe gp’s point is that whether the recruiter is secret police doesn’t change much if NK decides to let its citizen do it in interviews.

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#79

Post by slt2021 »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #13

This part is genius: > Nowadays, Leggio told Fortune he won’t even set up an interview with a candidate who seems promising on paper unless they agree to one final step. “Say something negative about Kim Jong Un,” Leggio tells potential job candidates, referring to the third-generation authoritarian Supreme Leader of North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Through research, Leggio le…

Russia/Ukraine has similar gotcha screening question: "Crimea belongs to ... whom?"

pro-Russians will try to weasel and twist themselves into pretzel justifying Crimea annexation. Pro-Ukraine will have the opposite answer.

similar thing in USA: try to force any US public figure to condemn genocide in Gaza or apartheid in Palestine... and you will be deported, canceled, and debunked on the spot.

or try to ask any US public figure to condemn any of the US wars, or the way US public was led into supporting them and do the math on who picked up the tab of the war...

Re: North Korean IT workers have infiltrated the Fortune 500

#80

Post by slt2021 »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #18
OhioMan2943 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this to imply that north Koreans can't be well qualified legitimate candidates?

Well qualified, sure Legitimate? Seems unlikely, given the state of affairs in North Korea

they are not being hired using their NK identity. For all intents and purposes they look like American or Asian(Vietnam/China/etc)
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