Summary
Share on X X.com Share on Facebook Facebook Email Email The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is providing an update to previously shared guidance regarding Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) Information Technology (IT) workers to raise public awareness of their increasingly malicious activity, which has recently included data extortion. The FBI is warning the public, private sector, and international community about North Korean IT workers' continued victimization of US-based businesses. In recent months, in addition to data extortion, FBI has observed North Korean IT workers leveraging unlawful access to company networks to exfiltrate proprietary and sensitive data, facilitate cyber-criminal activities, and conduct revenue-generating activity on behalf of the regime. Extortion and Theft of Sensitive Company Data After being discovered on company networks, North Korean IT workers have extorted victims by holding stolen proprietary data and code hostage until the companies meet ransom demands. In some instances, North Korean IT workers have publicly released victim companies' proprietary code. North Korean IT workers have copied company code repositories, such as GitHub, to their own user profiles and personal cloud accounts.