North Korea stole your work

Even security experts can be fooled. In July 2024, Knowbe4, a Florida -based company that offers security training, has discovered that a new rent known as Kyle is actually a foreign agent. « He interviews great, » says Brian Jack, Knowbe4’s chief information security officer. « He was on a camera, his summary was right, his check on his background cleared up, his identity check. We had no reason to suspect that this was not a valid candidate. » But when his facilitator-US-based individual, who gives him a coverage, seeks to install Kyle’s malware, the security team has caught and closed it.

Back to London, Simon Wickkmans couldn’t give up the idea that someone had tried to mislead him. He had just read about the Knowbe4 case, which deepened his suspicions. He conducted inspections and found that some of his candidates were definitely using stolen identities. And he found that some of them were related to famous North Korean operations. So Wijckmans decided to do a little exercise and he invited me to watch.

I dial on Google Meet at 3 o’clock Pacific time, tired and darkened. We deliberately chose this offensively wounded hour because it is 6 in the morning in Miami, where Harry candidate claims to be.

Harry joins the call, looks pretty fresh. It may be in its late twenty years, with short, straight, black hair. Everything about him seems deliberately nonspecific: he wears a simple black crew sweater and talks in a handset outside the brand. « I just woke up early today for this interview, no problem, » he says. « I know that working with the UK classes is something like a requirement, so I can get my working hours to yours, so there is no problem with that. »

So far, it all coincides with the hallmarks of a fake worker. Harry’s virtual background is one of the default options provided by Google Meet, and its connection is a slow touch. His English is good but highly accentuated, though he tells us he was born in New York and grew up in Brooklyn. Wijckmans starts with some typical interview questions, and Harry continues to look on the right while answering. He talks about different coding languages ​​and the names upload the frames he is familiar with. Wijckmans begins to ask some deeper technical questions. Harry stops. It looks confused. « Can I re -join the meeting? » he asks. « I have a problem with my microphone. » Wijckman nods and Harry disappears.

They are a few minutes and I start to worry that we have scared him, but then he returns to the meeting. His relationship is not much better, but his answers are clearer. Maybe he restarted his chatbot or got a colleague to train him. The call works for a few more minutes and we say goodbye.

Our next candidate calls yourself « Nick ». At his summary, he has a relationship with a personal website, but this person does not look very much like the picture of the site profile. This is his second interview with Wijckmans and we are sure he falsifies him: he is one of the candidates who failed to check after his first call, although he doesn’t know that.

Nick’s English is worse than Harry’s: when he asked what time it was, he tells us it was « six and past » before he was correct and say « quarter to seven ». Where does he live? « I’m in Ohio so far, » he radiates as a child who has received something right in a pop test.