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North Koreans invade U.S. firms
With the help of American accomplices, North Korean workers tricked Fortune 500 companies into hiring them for low-level tech jobs. They allegedly used their salaries to fund the regime’s nuclear military program.
Three people were arrested, including Arizona woman Christina Marie Chapman, who allegedly helped the North Koreans by stealing the identities of foreigners.
Prosecutors said Chapman also ran a “laptop farm” featuring computers with remote desktop software that allowed North Koreans to log in to internal company servers from overseas while creating the impression they were in the U.S.
The incident has spread paranoia among businesses, who now fear that double agents or fake workers have infiltrated their systems.
An old trick
The case of the fraudulent North Korean workers is extreme but definitely not isolated. Global companies have dealt with similar cases of employees unwilling to turn on their cameras during meetings to hide their identities.
Even in the recruitment stage, HR officers have admitted to interviewing crooked applicants who couldn’t answer questions about the information on their resumes.
When initial interviews were still conducted through landline phones, HR personnel often encountered an applicant with a completely different voice or accent from the one who showed up in person.
The role of intermediaries
The companies tricked by Chapman might have been in a great rush to move up the Fortune 500 ladder. In this hasty process, they have put aside the basic tenets of recruitment, which involves extensive background checks.
The repercussions are costly. The North Korean workers might have hijacked their systems and stolen critical information. Experts believe that this could balloon into a national security crisis if not properly monitored.
This should be a great reminder for businesses to be very careful when hiring remote workers. This is not to say that the emergence of hybrid work should be blamed because this deceptive behavior has been going on for years. Rather, their guards have to be up as early as the recruitment stage.
Instead of hiring a shady individual like Chapman, the tech companies she conned should’ve acquired the services of reputable recruitment agencies. These firms are trusted business partners who know the current trends in the labor market.
Recruitment firms are great intermediaries who connect businesses of different sizes to a vast talent pool. They link corporations to the most qualified candidates from a global workforce and ensure that these applicants fit the position in terms of skills and experience.
Critically, they also conduct extensive background research, including employment and reference verification, educational authentication, criminal background checks, and more. This is to ensure that the person featured in the resume is a real individual with no dubious links.
Hiring workers is an important step in amplifying a firm’s productivity and preparing it for the future. In the rapidly changing business landscape, careful consideration is required, especially when enlisting remote professionals.
Recruitment agencies are a firm’s greatest confidants in vetting talent. With their help, businesses can fortify their operations without unnecessary hiccups.
The question for your business
Are you taking necessary precautions when hiring remote workers?
