Amazon has reportedly blocked 1,800 North Koreans from applying for jobs in the company. Stephen Schmidt, chief security officer, Amazon has warned of hackers from North Korea gaining access into US companies in the guise of remote workers.
Media reports say that North Korean hackers make use of fake identities, mostly stolen, and laptop farms.
What are laptop farms? These are computers in the US, which are controlled remotely from outside while the US firms think the workers are working from within the US. These fake identities can be pointed out by the odd format of their phone numbers and questionable academic qualifications.
Amazon has been witness to a sharp increase in North Korean job applications in 2025.
Schmidt feels Amazon is probably just one of the many companies in the US that these hackers are trying to infiltrate. Schmidt sees this as a way for North Koreans to land jobs overseas, earn and launder money.
Amazon has, therefore, decided to block at least 1,800 North Korean candidates from joining the company.
There have been reports of North Koreans assuming the guise of recruiters on social media, such as LinkedIn, and seeking confidential tech information from South Korean employees working with various defence organisations.
Amazon’s stance highlights the seriousness of the issue. After all, it hasn’t been long since an Arizonian woman was arrested and imprisoned for operating a laptop farm being used by North Koreans to work remote jobs across 300 firms in the US. The scheme is said to have earned millions of dollars for the woman as well as North Korea.