Kraken Uncovers Hacker Posing as Engineer in Job Application

• Kraken detected a North Korean hacker during a job interview, and instead of informing the authorities, it conducted an investigation. 
• Kraken also mentioned that industry partners had informed them about North Korean hackers applying actively for jobs at companies associated with cryptocurrencies. 

A North Korean hacker applied for an engineering role at the crypto exchange Kraken. On May 1, Kraken posted, mentioning that it had identified a North Korean hacker applying for a job role in the company. 

However, the exchange did not contact the authorities or send the candidate away, instead, it put him through different steps of the process to learn more about their strategies at every step of the process.  

Kraken mentioned in its blog post that, “Our teams recently detected the attempts of a North Korean hacker to invade our ranks by applying for a job role at the company. Initially started as a routine hiring process for an engineering role, eventually turned into an intelligence gathering operation. 

Crypto-associated cybercrime has been actively increasing in North Korea. Kraken also mentioned that industry partners had informed them about North Korean hackers applying actively for jobs at companies associated with cryptocurrencies. 

Kraken Turns Interview to Investigation

The exchange mentioned the news piece covered by TechCrunch that claimed that hackers from North Korea stole more than $650 million last year, and also deployed IT personnel to invade blockchain firms as insider threats. 

The biggest crypto hack of all time, the Bybit hack, in which more than $1.5 billion was stolen, was also done by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. In the live interview, the Kraken team tried to confuse the candidate with two-factor authentication prompts. 

They asked the hacker to verify the location, show a government-issued ID, and also to suggest some local restaurants in the city. At that point, the truth unfolded as the candidate was not able to answer real-time questions about their city or country. 

By the time the interview concluded, the truth was in front of everyone that this was not a real applicant but a fraudulent person trying to invade Kraken’s system. 

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