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As the democracies of the world have learned the hard way, as bad actors attempt to disrupt our social cohesion through ever-evolving forms of misinformation and sometimes through acts of violence, such as the attacks allegedly organised by Iran against an Australian cafe and a synagogue, constant vigilance is essential.
This applies not only to governments but to corporations. As investigative reporter Nick McKenzie reveals today, North Korea is attempting to infiltrate Australian companies with agents posing as remote IT workers. Australia’s spy chief, Mike Burgess, has warned this country is firmly in Pyongyang’s sights.
Burgess’ Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has identified operatives targeting local firms, hoping to funnel salaries back to pay for Kim Jong-un’s weapons programs. The Australian Federal Police is concerned that there are operatives onshore.
In the United States, authorities have exposed operatives working for Boeing, NBC and Nike. Here, victims have included major banks.
These operatives are sometimes not terribly sophisticated. McKenzie found one himself, after posing as an IT recruiter. A few basic questions were enough to reveal that the candidate was not who he said he was; when pressed about which New York borough he lived in during the years he claimed to have studied there, he mumbled “New York City”, before saying, “west coast, um, I mean west part of New York”.
Burgess says the operation works partly because Australian firms have failed to counter the problem. “That’s the same vulnerability that could be used for espionage, foreign interference and the preparation for sabotage, or just purely, ‘I’m defrauding you to make some money to pay my government’,” Burgess said.
“The cost is real-world impact on our people and our economy, and that’s why people and companies should care.”
As McKenzie reports, the FBI last year said this North Korean operation was becoming “increasingly malicious” and it publicly urged US companies to strengthen their defences. Australian companies could learn the same lesson.
Corporate Australia faces myriad and complex challenges, such as the fuel crisis, productivity restraints, economic uncertainty. One key one, artificial intelligence, will be in the headlines this week when the boss of one of the world’s biggest AI companies, Anthropic, visits Australia.
He will meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers, amid discussions about the potential for Australia to host major data centres, given its relative political stability, and the sticking point of Australia’s copyright laws that limit the giant’s ability to train its models using local content.
In the context of those kinds of complexities, safeguarding against the accidental hiring of employees from a totalitarian dictatorship should be relatively simple; a thorough reference check and interview. During his online interview, the man who applied for McKenzie’s job looked nothing like the photograph on the resume. When he was pressed on the gaping holes in his story, he backed off. “I’m not too interested any more,” he said.
A little extra diligence would protect employers and their staff not only from welcoming enemies into their ranks, but from significant embarrassment if their lax hiring practices are exposed.
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