Amazon's chief security officer, Stephen Schmidt, revealed that since April 2024, the company has halted over 1,800 job applications suspected to be from North Korean agents. The trend is alarming, with applications linked to North Korea increasing by 27% each quarter in 2025. The main goal for these infiltrators seems to be securing remote jobs with foreign companies, particularly in the U.S., in order to funnel income toward North Korea's weapons program. To combat this threat, Amazon employs a combination of AI and manual reviews to identify suspicious applications. Their algorithms look for connections to at-risk organizations, anomalies in application details, and inconsistencies in geographic information. The identity verification process includes background checks, references, and structured interviews. Schmidt noted that identity theft tactics are evolving, with fraudsters impersonating real developers and using hijacked LinkedIn accounts to enhance their credibility. Another tactic involves “laptop farms” in the U.S., creating a false sense of local presence, and fraudulent educational credentials from U.S. universities are frequently used. Even minor details, such as phone numbers formatted with a country code of "1," can help expose fake profiles. Schmidt emphasized that this issue likely affects the entire industry. He urged other companies to reassess their identity verification methods and report any suspicious activities to authorities, including the FBI.