Operation Lone Star Round-Up Disrupts North Korean IT Network

Federal authorities on Tuesday said that the North Korean government used information technology workers to funnel money from North Texas back to North Korea.

The U.S. District Attorney of the Northern District of Texas, Ryan Raybould, held a morning press conference to announce that federal agents carried out the North Texas investigative effort known as Operation Lone Star Round-Up.

According to Raybould, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea used IT workers to earn wages from American companies and funnel the money to the North Korean government. Officials said the government uses that money to fund nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

“North Korea funds its nuclear weapons program, ballistic missile system, and other malign operations, in part, by deploying North Korean IT workforce and companies to infiltrate our American companies,” Raybould said during the press conference.

Raybould said the FBI seized more than 185 laptops and KVM (keyboard, monitor, and mouse) devices that Democratic People’s Republic of Korea operatives used to “secretly route remote access into unsuspecting businesses across the United States.”

It was also revealed that North Korea’s operation is not new and that it has been carrying out this operation for years, with IT workers posing as legitimate contractors and employees to gain access to American companies’ systems.

Operation Lone Star Round-Up

Operation Lone Star Round-Up was created as a federal law-enforcement operation in late September to dismantle the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s cyber capabilities that officials said funnel up to 90% of U.S. IT workers’ wages into North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. 

In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury estimated that the operation generated more than $800 million from U.S. companies that went directly to North Korea’s government to fund “weapons of mass destruction programs.” 

R. Joseph Rothrock, special agent in charge of the FBI Dallas Field Office, also spoke at the press conference, saying that it is estimated that North Korea “deploys thousands of government-controlled IT workers to infiltrate Western and U.S. companies” who pose as remote IT workers to obtain employment at U.S. companies.

Rothrock specified that these IT workers are not physically present in the United States and use multiple means to gain access to U.S. companies. 

“North Korean IT workers are increasingly relying on Americans and other Western facilitators to hide their identities and locations,” Rothrock said. “They may use stolen identities of unsuspecting Americans to obtain U.S. IT workers’ jobs. In other instances, they pay individuals to use their identities or to complete other tasks, including appearing at interviews, verifying stolen identities, shipping packages, hosting laptops, and completing drug testing or fingerprinting.” 

Rothrock encouraged employers to use multiple layered controls and detections throughout an employee’s time with a company, including using E-Verify, requiring a U.S. passport, or requiring multiple forms of identification.  

He also urged individuals to reject requests from these operatives to use their Social Security numbers or birth dates. 

Raybould told reporters that his office and federal officials plan to indict and arrest those who have willingly participated in the national security threat, telling reporters to “stay tuned.” 

Other operations have also been carried out across the United States in areas such as Las Vegas; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans; and Cleveland. 

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