Researchers at Socure warn of an ongoing wave of employment fraud driven by North Korean IT operatives attempting to secure positions at foreign companies.
These operatives, working on behalf of the North Korean government, pose as freelancers from different countries and appear to have impressive resumes.
“Socure’s own experience makes this problem very real,” the researchers write. “Our internal recruiters and hiring managers began noticing unsettling trends a few months ago in our applicant pool—particularly for senior engineering roles.
What started as a trickle of too-perfect resumes quickly evolved into a deeper concern that aligns closely with warnings from federal law enforcement and investigative reporting. We discovered that several job applicants were entirely fabricated. They did not exist.”
Socure outlines the following patterns associated with many of these false identities:
- “Resumes loaded with big-brand employers (Google, Amazon, Netflix)
- Western names like ‘James Bailey’ paired with East Asian appearance and accented English in much higher numbers than would match demographics that fit this combination
- Aggressive interest in remote-only roles (candidates will share that their current employer is requiring back to the office – the driver of why they are seeking a new role)
- Sparse LinkedIn activity, often with a single post and minimal connections
- Profiles that disappear mid-hiring process as LinkedIn shuts them down
- Shared patterns across resumes, including impressive educational backgrounds such as Harvard and Carnegie Mellon, suggesting AI-generated content”
Socure notes that these fraudsters often use ChatGPT or other tools to answer questions during interviews. In one case, Socure ran the interview questions through ChatGPT beforehand, then had a candidate rattle off answers that were very similar to the ones given by the chatbot. Interviewers should be on the lookout for candidates who struggle with the following:
- “Contextual or situational questions
- Multi-part problem-solving
- Adapting when the interviewer changes direction
- Questions related to where they live”
KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 70,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.
Socure has the story.
New-school Security Awareness Training is critical to enabling you and your IT staff to connect with users and help them make the right security decisions all of the time. This isn't a one and done deal, continuous training and simulated phishing are both needed to mobilize users as your last line of defense. Request your one-on-one demo of KnowBe4's security awareness training and simulated phishing platform and see how easy it can be!
