The Rise of the Fake Tech Workforce: State-Sponsored Infiltration of U.S. Technical Supply Chains
Nathaniel Davis and Nina Kollars
February 27, 2025
If the cornerstone of America’s competitive advantage is its domestic workforce’s capacity to drive technological innovation, then how do we respond if members of that workforce are not who they say they are?
On Dec. 12, 2024, the Department of Justice released an indictment against 14 North Korean nationals for involvement in a fake IT worker scheme impacting hundreds of U.S. firms and funneling millions of dollars to the ballistic missile program in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“Fake technology work” is conventionally associated with the techniques individuals use in attempting to appear productive, taking wages for work they did not do themselves. This type of fraud is not necessarily a threat to national security. However, cyber security researchers have grown concerned with employment fraud schemes that could be used by state-backed threat actors to gain access to sensitive systems inside firms and government agencies. Certainly, not all cyber threats are necessarily direct threats to the Department of Defense and its industrial base, but the rising trend of employment identity fraud merits more careful attention above the usual noise of conventional cybercrime.
This article is intended to introduce lawmakers and defense planners to the broader threat, but as is always the case with cyber threats, decision-makers need to read more deeply as befits their organization’s responsibilities and threat profile. Hereafter is a brief overview of what the national security policymaker needs to know about this trend, what resources firms and agencies need to manage their risk, and perhaps most importantly what not to do.
https://warontherocks.com/2025/02/the-rise-of-the-fake-tech-workforce-state-sponsored-infiltration-of-u-s-technical-supply-chains/
