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To discourage North Korean IT workers from trying to secure jobs at US companies, Coinbase will require all new hires to visit the cryptocurrency exchange’s offices in person.
The company "started requiring everybody to....come to the US for orientation,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said during a recent appearance on the "Cheeky Pint" podcast, which was spotted by Business Insider.
The FBI and cybersecurity vendors have uncovered North Koreans infiltrating hundreds of companies through freelance IT work and remote jobs. "It feels like there are 500 new people graduating every quarter from some kind of school they have [in North Korea]," Armstrong says.
Armstrong indicated the company will still conduct remote interviews, but that job candidates must turn on their cameras during a video call and “prove they’re not AI.”
“Really, anybody with sensitive access, we make sure has US citizenship and family in-country,” he added. “Because you don’t want to feel like someone can flee and then have no fear of extradition or these kinds of things.”
The threat is particularly high for Coinbase since North Korea has long focused on and excelled at stealing cryptocurrency. This includes allegedly stealing $1.4 billion from the Bybit exchange earlier this year.
Coinbase itself also recently suffered a breach involving criminals bribing the company’s customer support staff overseas for information on account holders. According to Armstrong, staff continue to work in “locked down” facilities using secure Chromebooks. Nevertheless, bribed employees in the past have smuggled in smartphones to help them take a photo of a computer screen in return for receiving “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.
“We’ve really had to lock down the kind of access that these agents have. We’ve started to move more of it to the US and Europe,” Armstrong said, noting Coinbase will also warn customer support agents they’ll face prosecution and “go to jail” for any major violations.