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A U.S. federal court has sentenced a Ukrainian man to five years in prison for his role in a long-running whistle-blowing operation that helped North Korean workers get fraudulent jobs at dozens of U.S. companies.
US opposition brought charges in 2024 against Oleksandr Didenko, 29, a resident of Kyiv, for setting up North Koreans with stolen US citizen credentials to apply for jobs and get paid. Under the plan, workers’ wages were returned to Pyongyang, which the government used to support its internationally recognized nuclear weapons program.
These are the latest on the latest news about people who are involved in managing the situation in North Korea so-called “IT worker” schemes. Security researchers have described North Korean workers as a “third threat” to US and European businesses, because they violate US sanctions, often causing North Koreans to steal company information, and then confiscate the victim’s companies to prevent them from releasing company secrets.
Prosecutors say Didenko used a website called Upworksell, which allows overseas workers, including North Koreans, to buy or rent fake credentials to get jobs at US companies. Didenko seized more than 870 information, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The FBI seized Upworksell in 2024 and diverted traffic to its servers. Polish authorities arrested Didenko, who was extradited to the US and later pleaded guilty.
In word this weekThe United States Department of Justice said Didenko also paid people to receive and receive computers at their homes in California, Tennessee, and Virginia. These “laptop farms” are rooms with open laptops, allowing North Koreans to work remotely as if they were in the United States.
Security giant CrowdStrike said last year that it has seen a sharp rise in the number of North Korean workers entering the industry, often as remote developers or other software engineering jobs. The plan is one of many that the North Korean government uses to enrich itself, while it cannot use international funds, due to international sanctions.
North Koreans are also known as modeling for recruiters and VCs in an attempt to persuade high-profile and low-income people to give them access to their computers, including crypto.
