North Korean IT workers have attempted to use Coinbase's remote-first hiring to obtain positions that grant access to sensitive exchange systems. Coinbase now requires US in-person orientation for new hires and mandates US citizenship plus fingerprinting for anyone accessing sensitive systems. Prospective employees must enable cameras during interviews to verify identity and prevent coaching or AI-assisted participation. Some Coinbase employees have been offered bribes and some workers may be coerced into participation. The FBI warned that North Korean IT workers target private companies and use US-based facilitators who reship laptops, create fronts, and attend interviews on others' behalf.
Armstrong said that North Korean IT workers have tried to leverage the company's remote work policy to gain employment and then access to the crypto exchange's sensitive systems. Coinbase works with law enforcement, but Armstrong said the threat just keeps growing. "It feels like there's 500 new people graduating every quarter from some kind of school they have - that's just their whole job," Armstrong told John Collison, cofounder and president of online payment provider Stripe, in an episode of Collison's "Cheeky Pint" podcast posted on Wednesday.
Armstrong said that Coinbase is requiring all workers to come to the US for in-person orientation and that anyone with access to sensitive systems must hold US citizenship and submit to fingerprinting. Last month, the FBI put out an updated warning about North Korean IT workers who target private companies "to illicitly generate substantial revenue for the regime." The FBI said that the IT workers work with both "witting and unwitting" people within the US. The FBI said US-based facilitators have reshipped company laptops, attended virtual interviews on behalf of North Korean workers, and even created front businesses.
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