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A company has been hacked after accidentally hiring a North Korean cyber criminal as a remote IT worker.
The unidentified firm hired the technician after he faked his employment history and personal details.
Once given access to the company’s computer network, the hacker downloaded sensitive company data and sent a ransom demand.
The firm which is based in the UK, US or Australia did not want to be named.
It has allowed cyber responders from Secureworks to report the hack to spread awareness and warn others.
It is the latest in a string of cases of western remote workers being unmasked as North Koreans.
Secureworks said the IT worker, thought to be a man, was hired in the summer as a contractor.
He used the firm’s remote working tools to log into the corporate network.
He then secretly downloaded as much company data as possible as soon as he had gained access to internal systems.
He worked for the firm for four months collecting a salary.
Researchers say this was likely redirected to North Korea in a complex laundering process to evade western sanctions on the country.
After the company sacked him for poor performance, it received ransom emails containing some of the stolen data and a demand to be paid a six-figure sum in cryptocurrency.
If the company did not pay, the hacker said they would publish or sell the stolen information online.
The firm did not disclose whether the ransom was paid.
