CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) CEO George Kurtz said his firm identified hundreds of North Korean operatives who infiltrated American companies as remote employees using AI-generated resumes and LinkedIn profiles.

Speaking with Jason Calacanis at All-In Podcast in an episode released on Monday, Kurtz described the infiltration scheme.

Kurtz’s statements align with FBI estimates from October that such operations funneled hundreds of millions to potentially $1 billion to North Korea over five years.

Hundreds Of North Korean Operatives Found In US Companies

CrowdStrike’s R&D team found the operatives while developing AI algorithms, seeing unusual signals indicating remote tools usage. “We saw the signal and we said this is really weird and we investigated it,” Kurtz said.

The investigation revealed North Korean operatives working as employees. “We found 40 of them” initially, Kurtz said. “We found hundreds now over hundreds in America.”

The operatives sought trade secrets and access, Kurtz said. “Why break in when you can just log in?” he stated.

Kurtz noted that in one case, after CrowdStrike notified a company about a suspected operative, the employee's boss asked, ‘Do we have to get rid of him because he did such good work?' The boss described the operative as ‘one of our best performers,' according to Kurtz.

Companies Tighten Hiring Security

The American entrepreneur and businessman said companies are embedding security personnel in HR groups to pre-filter AI-generated resumes and LinkedIn profiles. “Meet whoever you hire,” Kurtz said.

Companies are requiring in-person final interviews or mandatory week-one headquarters attendance, he said.

AI Enables Attacks And Defense

In his interview, Kurtz also described ‘autonomous malware' that uses prompts and creates unique fingerprints with each attack.

When asked how to address this, Kurtz said, “Well, you need AI to counter it.”

Photo: Shutterstock

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.