Tue, 23 Dec 2025

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 Amazon blocks 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents

The firm’s chief security officer said North Koreans tried to apply for remote working IT jobs using stolen or fake identities.

* Amazon's chief security officer, Stephen Schmidt, said the company has blocked over 1,800 job applications from suspected North Korean agents.
* These individuals tried to apply for remote IT jobs using stolen or fake identities and were likely trying to funnel wages back to fund North Korea's weapons programs.
* The trend is believed to be happening at a large scale across the industry, particularly in the US.
* Amazon saw a 30% increase in job applications from North Koreans in the past year, according to Schmidt.
* The operatives typically work with "laptop farms" - computers based in the US that are run remotely from outside of the country.
* Amazon uses AI tools and human verification to screen job applications and has detected sophisticated strategies used by fraudsters, including hijacking dormant LinkedIn accounts using leaked credentials.
* Employers are being warned to look out for indicators of fraudulent North Korean job applications, such as incorrectly formatted phone numbers and mismatched education histories.
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