Elite members of North Korean society fake their way into Western paychecks

Research indicates a large, state-backed North Korean system that places trained IT workers into overseas remote roles using fabricated identities, collaborators, and technical infrastructure (VMs, cloud, throwaway accounts) to access corporate systems for revenue-generating activity, data theft, and extortion; the program operates at scale, uses structured onboarding and internal tracking, and cycles identities when terminated, creating a persistent insider-style threat that requires coordination between HR and security teams.