Firm says AI tools are masking identities of false applicants, who then funnel wages from remote IT jobs to North Korea

Fake IT workers deployed by North Korea are using AI technology, including voice-changing tools, to trick western companies into hiring them, Microsoft has said.

The US tech firm said a signature Pyongyang money-raising ruse is being enhanced by AI, which is helping create fake names and alter stolen IDs to increase the credibility of false applicants for IT and software development jobs.

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The text mimics a common fraud, but differs in that criminals appear to have hacked a genuine business account

John the delivery driver has tried to drop off something at your home from a company called Cleaning Superstore but you missed him, according to the message you have received via WhatsApp.

Although you cannot remember buying anything from the company, the text appears to have come from a legitimate WhatsApp account so you try to rearrange delivery by clicking the link provided.

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Not enough support for freed victims, say aid agencies, with growing numbers sleeping on the streets, unable to travel home without passports or money

Charities and aid workers have called for urgent international government support for victims of south-east Asia’s deadly scam compounds , following a damning report by Amnesty International.

The numbers of survivors of cyberscam “farms” left destitute and abandoned on the city streets of Cambodia and Myanmar is an “international crisis”, according to the research published in January.

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Cyber-espionage campaigns are targeting employees directly, including through hiring processes, report claims

Defence companies, their hiring processes and their employees have become a key target of state-sponsored cyber-espionage campaigns, according to a report from Google released before the Munich Security Conference.

The report catalogues a “relentless barrage of cyber operations”, most by state-sponsored groups, against EU and US industrial supply chains. It suggests the range of targets for these hackers has grown to encompass the broader industrial base of the US and Europe –from German aerospace firms to UK carmakers.

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Initiative aims to identify proficient gamers and coders who can help companies identify flaws in their cybersecurity

Cybercriminals, the shadowy online figures often depicted in Hollywood movies as hooded villains capable of wiping millions of pounds off the value of businesses at a keystroke, are not usually known for their candour.

But in a sixth-form college in Manchester this week, two former hackers gave the young people gathered an honest appraisal of what living a life of internet crime really looks like.

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The proposed National Police Service, encompassing counter-terrorism and regional crime units along with the duties of the National Crime Agency, will be unmanageable, writes Peter Sommer

The National Police Service (NPS) is the fourth or fifth iteration of a “British FBI”, not the third ( What is Shabana Mahmood proposing in ‘biggest ever’ policing reforms? 26 January ). Before the Serious And Organised Crime Agency and the National Crime Agency, we had a National Crime Squad, and before that a National Criminal Intelligence Service.

The new NPS may have too wide a remit to be manageable. Many Met police commissioners end their time badly because of the extent of their responsibilities – public order, counter-terrorism, mid-range organised crime, street crime, drunks, knives, road traffic, domestic disturbances, dealing with the mentally unwell, and the vetting and personnel problems of police and civilian staff.

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Carmaker reports £196m of exceptional direct costs in addressing hack as it returns to full output

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The cyber-attack that closed Jaguar Land Rover factories has pushed the company from profit into a quarterly loss of almost £500m, the carmaker has revealed.

JLR made pre-tax losses of £485m in the three months to 30 September, with production shut down throughout September due to the hack – a brutal turnaround from the £398m profit it recorded in the same period a year earlier, and ending 11 consecutive quarters of profit.

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The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover is estimated to have cost the UK at least £1.9 billion in what is likely to be “the most economically damaging cyber event” for the country.

The month-long shutdown of internal systems and production at JLR affected over 5,000 British organisations, according to an analysis by Cyber Monitoring Centre, a non-profit organization that ranks the severity of cyber events in the UK.

“This incident looks to have been by some distance, the single most financially damaging cyber event ever to hit the UK,” said Ciaran Martin, former head of the National Cyber Security Centre and chair of CMC’s technical committee.

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The security chief of SolarWinds reflects on the Russian hack that exposed US government agencies – and the heart attack he suffered in the aftermath

Tim Brown will remember 12 December 2020 for ever.

It was the day the software company SolarWinds was notified it had been hacked by Russia.

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