#DigitalAssetBill Kraken says that a North Korean actor applied for a technical job at the cryptocurrency exchange, but their plan was thwarted after a warning from industry partners.
The US cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has detailed the attempt of a North Korean hacker to infiltrate the organization by requesting a job interview.
"What started as a routine hiring process for an engineering position quickly turned into an intelligence-gathering operation," the company wrote in a blog post on May 1.
Kraken indicated that warning signs from the applicant appeared from the start of the process when they joined an interview with a different name than the one used to apply and "occasionally switched between voices," apparently being guided during the interview.
Instead of immediately rejecting the applicant, Kraken decided to proceed with them in the hiring process to gather information about the tactics used.
International sanctions have effectively isolated North Korea from the rest of the world, and the Kim family's dictatorship, which rules the country, has long targeted cryptocurrency businesses and users to boost the nation's coffers. So far this year, it has stolen crypto assets worth billions.
Kraken reported that industry partners had warned them that North Korean actors were actively applying for jobs at cryptocurrency companies.
"We received a list of email addresses linked to the hacker group, and one of them matched the email the candidate used to apply to Kraken," it noted.
With this information, the company's security team uncovered a network of false identities used by the hacker to apply to multiple companies.
