FBI uncovers another North Korean undercover 'laptop farm' in Texas

Searched 40 locations and confiscated 187 pieces of equipment... Stealing American identities to earn foreign currency

(San Francisco = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kwon Young-jeon = A 'laptop farm', a remote base for North Korean information technology (IT) workers disguised as employed by American companies, has been discovered again.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced on the 13th (local time) that they had dismantled the illegal network of North Korean IT workers through the joint operation 'Lone Star Roundup' conducted across the state.

Through this operation, they searched about 40 residential areas and confiscated 187 laptops and KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) devices that were abused by North Korean workers to infiltrate American companies.

“Operation Lone Star Roundup was conducted to deter malicious cyber activities conducted by the North Korean government to support its weapons of mass destruction (WMD), ballistic missiles, intelligence programs, and nuclear programs,” said FBI Dallas Division Director R. Joseph Rothrock, adding, “One of the seized laptops represents a company that employed North Korean IT personnel.”

It was revealed that North Korean workers used stolen or forged U.S. ID cards and virtual private networks (VPNs) that could manipulate Internet access locations to get jobs by disguising themselves as if they were working remotely from within the United States.

Helpers in the United States who helped North Korea received and installed remote work laptops sent by victim companies at their homes and installed remote access software to provide laptop farms where North Korean hackers and workers could freely access them.

They were also responsible for receiving salaries and transferring them to accounts controlled by the North Korean authorities.

CrowdStrike, an American cyber security company, named the group of North Korean IT agents and the forces assisting them who commit such crimes as 'Famous Chollima'.

Federal Prosecutor Ryan Raybould said, “This investigation goes far beyond a simple case of fraud,” and pointed out, “We will not sit idly by while America’s enemies take advantage of our companies or threaten national security.”

In particular, Prosecutor Raybold said, "It is absurd to have dozens of laptops in the living room and then claim to the government that they 'didn't know what they were doing'," and also predicted legal action against those in the United States who helped North Korea.

Investigative authorities released 11 email accounts used in the crime and requested information.

This is not the first time that a laptop farm like this, which is being abused as a means of earning foreign currency for North Korea, has been discovered.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced in June of last year that it had uncovered 29 laptop farms in 16 states in the U.S., and a woman from Arizona was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison after being found guilty of helping North Korea with a laptop farm discovered in 2023.

Texas local broadcaster 'Fox 4' reported, citing estimates from the Ministry of Finance, that the profits North Korean IT workers earned through this method amounted to approximately $800 million (approximately KRW 1.08 trillion) in 2024 alone.