North Korean infiltrator caught working in Amazon IT department thanks to lag — 110ms keystroke input raises red flags over true location

6 months ago by MicroWave to c/world

A barely perceptible keystroke delay was the smoking gun that led to the uncovering of a malign imposter.

A North Korean imposter was uncovered, working as a sysadmin at Amazon U.S., after their keystroke input lag raised suspicions with security specialists at the online retail giant. Normally, a U.S.-based remote worker’s computer would send keystroke data within tens of milliseconds. This suspicious individual’s keyboard lag was “more than 110 milliseconds,” reports Bloomberg.

Amazon is commendably proactive in its pursuit of impostors, according to the source report. The news site talked with Amazon’s Chief Security Officer, Stephen Schmidt, about this fascinating new case of North Koreans trying to infiltrate U.S. organizations to raise hard currency for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and sometimes indulge in espionage and/or sabotage.

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gerowen 81 points 6 months ago

I'm never quite sure how to feel about this. On one hand, if the person just wants to make some money and they're doing the job, why bother them. On the other hand though, I know that anybody who has consistent access to an internet connection in North Korea is almost certainly working for the benefit of the great leader and they aren't actually seeing any money or benefit for themselves. I just hate that the citizens of North Korea have to suffer and be punished because of their asswipe of a leader.

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pilferjinx 70 points 6 months ago

When you look at the ISS pics of NK during the night, you get a sense of how bad it is for most of the population.

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brbposting 47 points 6 months ago path: 0 21089122 21089392 21091423, hotness: undefined, score: 47, children: 10
dubyakay 34 points 6 months ago

Maybe they just really like the Dark Sky initiative.

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bold_atlas 4 points 6 months ago

I like how they point out that tiny batch of lights near the coast are NK fishing boats while all the other massive clusters of lights on the ocean are South Korean, Chinese and Japanese fishing boats illegally using spotlights to attract fish.

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Echolynx 1 point 6 months ago
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UnderpantsWeevil -2 points 6 months ago

Always curious to hear how NK has no electricity, but they manage to hack the systems of a trillion dollar conglomerate on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean.

The contradictions abound.

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Serinus 15 points 6 months ago

It kind of amazes me they don't have better infrastructure. It's not like they're shy about forced labor.

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Honytawk 13 points 6 months ago

You can only do so much with forced labour. They aren't doing their best, just "enough" to not get punished.

I'm sure plenty of them also use malicious compliance and sabotage stuff to get back at the top brass.

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mrgoosmoos 9 points 6 months ago

seeing the stars instead of light pollution doesn't sound like a bad thing on its own

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