this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2025
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A North Korean imposter was uncovered, working as a sysadmin at Amazon U.S., after their keystroke input lag raised suspicions with security specialists at the online retail giant. Normally, a U.S.-based remote worker’s computer would send keystroke data within tens of milliseconds. This suspicious individual’s keyboard lag was “more than 110 milliseconds,” reports Bloomberg.

Amazon is commendably proactive in its pursuit of impostors, according to the source report. The news site talked with Amazon’s Chief Security Officer, Stephen Schmidt, about this fascinating new case of North Koreans trying to infiltrate U.S. organizations to raise hard currency for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and sometimes indulge in espionage and/or sabotage.

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[–] JoeBidet@lemmy.ml 115 points 9 hours ago

Sounds much better than "Amazon surveils keystrokes of its IT workers"!

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 64 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

How am I the first person to ask why they're measuring the latency on everyone's keystrokes?

[–] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 45 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Given they've had 1800 recent infiltration attempts, I understand their suspicion.

[–] gerowen@piefed.social 58 points 13 hours ago (5 children)

I'm never quite sure how to feel about this. On one hand, if the person just wants to make some money and they're doing the job, why bother them. On the other hand though, I know that anybody who has consistent access to an internet connection in North Korea is almost certainly working for the benefit of the great leader and they aren't actually seeing any money or benefit for themselves. I just hate that the citizens of North Korea have to suffer and be punished because of their asswipe of a leader.

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I know that anybody who has consistent access to an internet connection in North Korea is almost certainly working for the benefit of the great leader and they aren’t actually seeing any money or benefit for themselves.

Eh, this doesn't sound like the job you would give someone in a prison camp. You're talking about people that you're allowing to interact and work regularly with foreigners outside the country. That does not sound like the type of position you trust to a political prisoner. That sounds like a position you put someone of high trust. It's probably a pretty cushy job as the standards of North Korea go. Sure beats scratching at dirt or working in some godawful arms factory. It's probably the type of job you need some good family connections in the Party in order to get. Sure, the government takes all the direct monetary benefit of the work, but that is just kindof how Communist systems work. I imagine the people working those jobs have some of the highest standards of living available to people that aren't senior party leadership.

[–] vega208@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 hour ago

It’s probably a pretty cushy job as the standards of North Korea go.

as the standards of North Korea go.

Yeah, most of the money they make doesn't go to them.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 21 points 10 hours ago

North Korea intentionally does this to get revenue for the state.

[–] pilferjinx@piefed.social 52 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

When you look at the ISS pics of NK during the night, you get a sense of how bad it is for most of the population.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It kind of amazes me they don't have better infrastructure. It's not like they're shy about forced labor.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 2 points 2 hours ago

You can only do so much with forced labour. They aren't doing their best, just "enough" to not get punished.

I'm sure plenty of them also use malicious compliance and sabotage stuff to get back at the top brass.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 5 points 7 hours ago

seeing the stars instead of light pollution doesn't sound like a bad thing on its own

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 39 points 12 hours ago

They’re also a security threat. Any opportunity to exfiltrate potentially profitable or leverageable data will be taken. I’d bet they’re used to sniff out vulnerabilities for ransomware attacks too. I definitley identify and agree with the healthy sympathy (I guess empathy if you’re in the states, our leader more than qualifies as an asswipe) for the citizens of North Korea

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 20 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

These people are definitely not there just to make some money. And whatever money they make will be used to prop up the genocidal regime.

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 14 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I guess this is inevitable at huge companies. Nobody cares about the actual person you're hiring, it's just another position to fill. Of course there will be fakes of all kinds.

[–] TragicNotCute@lemmy.world 9 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

It’s not that, it’s that they are incredibly sophisticated in their techniques. I just had to sit through 90 minutes of training about how to spot fake applicants.

[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I don't get why companies can't solve this problem entirely by just flying out applicants for in-person interviews towards the end of the hiring process. Or hell, maybe only even ask the candidate to fly out for a visit after they've already accepted the job offer. Just one minimal and relatively cheap step to confirm the remote worker you're hiring is who they claim to be. For the cost of a flight, a night or two in a hotel, and some meal vouchers, you can verify someone's identity. Sure, maybe not for freelance work. But for any well paid technical field? This is a trivial expense.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 1 points 2 hours ago

I wonder how much it would cost to hire an actor for that. You know they would find ways around them.

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] justaman123@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Yeah capitalism says: but cheaper worker ok