FBI raids Texas laptop farms tied to North Korean IT schemes
Original title: What We Missed: Feds Lasso Texas Laptop Farms
Operation Lonestar Roundup seized 187 devices, charged 14 people, and affected more than 70 US companies, the FBI says.
Dark Reading editors discussed FBI raids on more than 40 Texas residences allegedly used as laptop farms for North Korean fake IT worker schemes. The action, called Operation Lonestar Roundup, seized 187 devices, charged 14 people, and arrested alleged facilitators. The episode also covered Russian police arrests of alleged DataSuckers members and a 404 Media report that a Chinese criminal operation used Staples’ support system to issue about $5 million in gift cards.
Unconfirmed: The laptop-farm role is alleged, and the Staples gift-card figure comes from a 404 Media report.
- The FBI says the disrupted schemes affected more than 70 US companies.
- Workers allegedly used fake or stolen identities to take US IT jobs.
- Positions were then used to steal data, intellectual property, and intelligence.
- DataSuckers is said to have claimed breaches in Russia and Ukraine.
Impact: Data, intellectual property, and intelligence theft via fake employment
- ATT&CK
- T1078 Valid Accounts
- Threat actors
- DataSuckers
- Victims
- Staples
- Organizations
- FBI
From the original article
13 min read at darkreading.com
In this video, Dark Reading editors discuss some of the news they didn't get a chance to cover, from busting up North Korea's stateside infrastructure in "Operation Lonestar Justice" to Staples' gift card bonanza.
By Rob Wright, Alexander Culafi · darkreading.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.