U.S. authorities say North Korean hackers infiltrated at least 70 companies

The U.S. Department of Justice says North Korean hackers used American facilitators and “laptop farms” to gain access to at least 70 U.S.-based companies.

Prosecutors said they indicted and arrested at least two people and searched more than 40 suspected laptop farms across Texas. Federal authorities seized over 180 computers that they believe U.S. companies had shipped to newly hired employees, unaware that the workers were North Korean spies using stolen U.S. identities.

The affected companies were not named. The Justice Department described them as operating in healthcare, cyber support, retail, communications and manufacturing across Ohio and 16 other states, including the District of Columbia. Authorities believe the hackers generated around $3 million in stolen funds.

CrowdStrike, which assisted the FBI investigation, said laptop farms help North Korean hackers overcome the challenges of operating outside the United States. The Justice Department said North Korean IT workers are increasingly recruiting Americans to carry out a wider range of tasks, sometimes subcontracting entire jobs to foreign nationals.

In a separate public service announcement, the FBI warned that “thousands” of North Korean state-controlled IT workers are employed at Western companies, posing an insider threat involving national security and intellectual property theft. The Justice Department said the remote-worker scheme is among the regime’s illicit revenue sources. Experts say the scale of the activity may exceed what has been reported.