State-sponsored operatives posing as remote contractors to steal data have inadvertently become the most reliable systems administrators in Silicon Valley.
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike reported Tuesday that state-sponsored North Korean operatives posing as remote IT contractors are currently performing nearly half of all productive engineering work in the United States tech sector.
According to the threat intelligence report, the highly sophisticated hacking syndicates have spent the past 12 months infiltrating corporate networks by interviewing for open tech roles. However, in their effort to maintain deep cover, the operatives have inadvertently become the most reliable systems administrators and backend developers in the industry.
CrowdStrike analysts noted that while the state-sponsored groups are responsible for roughly 50 percent of recent sector cyberattacks, they also account for 68 percent of all closed IT support tickets, a vast majority of successful code deployments, and nearly all of the industry's completed API documentation.
It is true that these remote workers are systematically exfiltrating our proprietary source code to servers in Pyongyang, but they also migrated our entire legacy database to AWS over a single weekend without complaining.
Vane added that domestic applicants typically demand equity and comprehensive healthcare, whereas the North Korean advanced persistent threat groups only require a nominal freelance fee and unfettered administrative access to the company’s unencrypted customer databases.
The report detailed how the operatives flawlessly mimic the behavior of American tech employees, maintaining their cover by keeping their cameras off during daily stand-up meetings, typing loudly on mechanical keyboards, and aggressively deploying Agile methodology buzzwords to stall product managers.
At press time, several major tech conglomerates were reportedly lobbying the State Department to reclassify the international cyber espionage campaign as an essential offshore staffing solution.