The problem is becoming so common that job applicants now regularly screen recruiters for signs they might be acting on Pyongyangs behalf. Twenty-five experts, victims and corporate representatives that Reuters spoke to agreed that the problem was ubiquitous.
"It happens to me all the time and I'm sure it happens to everybody in this space," said Carlos Yanez, a business development executive at the Switzerland-based blockchain analytics firm Global Ledger, who was among those recently targeted by the thieves, according to data supplied by cybersecurity companies SentinelOne and Validin, who are publishing a report about the cyber campaign on Thursday.
Yanez said that while he avoided getting hacked, the quality of masquerades carried out by North Koreans had improved significantly in the past year. "It's scary how far they've come," he said.