Ongoing Purported AI-Assisted Identity Fraud Enables Unauthorized Access to Western Companies by North Korean IT Workers
Date: 2021-01-01
Affected: Cho Chung Pom, Choe Jong Yong, Christina Chapman, Contagious Interview, Deepfake Technology Developers, Department 53, Famous Chollima, Government Of North Korea, Gwisin Gang, Hyon Chol Song, Jang Chol Myong, Jong Kyong Chol, Jong Song Hwa, Kim Mu Rim, Kim Ryu Song, Kim Sang Man, Kim Ye Won, Ko Chung Sok, Large Language Model Developers, Lazarus Group, Matthew Isaac Knoot, Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, North Korean Threat Actors, Openai, Purplebravo, Reconnaissance General Bureau, Ri Kyong Sik, Rim Un Chol, Sim Hyon Sop, Sok Kwang Hyok, Son Un Chol, Unc5267, Void Dokkaebi, Wagemole, Waterplum, Yang Di
Attack vector: data-exfiltration
Category: real-world
Severity: Critical

AI Incident Database (AIID) entry #1118: Ongoing Purported AI-Assisted Identity Fraud Enables Unauthorized Access to Western Companies by North Korean IT Workers. Alleged deployer/developer: Cho Chung Pom, Choe Jong Yong, Christina Chapman, Contagious Interview, Deepfake Technology Developers, Department 53, Famous Chollima, Government Of North Korea, Gwisin Gang, Hyon Chol Song, Jang Chol Myong, Jong Kyong Chol, Jong Song Hwa, Kim Mu Rim, Kim Ryu Song, Kim Sang Man, Kim Ye Won, Ko Chung Sok, Large Language Model Developers, Lazarus Group, Matthew Isaac Knoot, Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, North Korean Threat Actors, Openai, Purplebravo, Reconnaissance General Bureau, Ri Kyong Sik, Rim Un Chol, Sim Hyon Sop, Sok Kwang Hyok, Son Un Chol, Unc5267, Void Dokkaebi, Wagemole, Waterplum, Yang Di. See the linked AIID entry for full narrative, sourcing, and classification.

Impact: AI-enabled criminal enterprises; ransomware ecosystem; employment fraud at scale; $500K+ extortion demands

Mitigations:
Abuse reporting and rapid response
Employment verification tools resistant to AI-generated fraud
Offensive operation pattern detection

Architectural layers (MAESTRO):