Hello. Thousands of North Korean operatives are using fake and stolen identities to land remote jobs at U.S. companies -- funneling hundreds of millions of dollars back to the regime.

Leaked data, interviews and never-before-seen videos obtained by The Wall Street Journal reveal how a single team of these workers infiltrated at least eight companies in just a few months. Watch the documentary and read the practical takeaways .

More news below.

More Cyber News

Clop is back. Oil company Shell and medical-product maker Philips are among big businesses that ransomware group Clop claims to have hit. The Russian-speaking group, which in the past has been linked to cyberattacks against Progress Software, British Airways and others, said in online posts it has now stolen data from 50 companies worldwide.

   -- Philips acknowledged a Clop attack. Shell was more vague, saying it is 
      aware of a possible incident and is investigating. (Reuters) 

Surveillance-tech company Flock Safety said it would add safeguards to its AI cameras after a backlash against potential misuse by police. All law-enforcement customers will be required by the end of 2026 to adopt a tool that flags abnormal activity for review, Flock said Thursday. The company also said it would require case codes for all database searches and reduce the default data-retention period from 30 to seven days.

   -- Flock has more than 12,000 customers and has touted scanning 20 billion 
      license plates a month. (WSJ) 

Meta, Oakley and Ray-Ban face a criminal complaint in Germany over whether the companies' AI glasses breach the country's strict privacy rules. HateAid, a Berlin nonprofit, filed the complaint with the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime, arguing the new glasses allow for the secret filming of others in public. ( Dow Jones Risk Journal -- free link)

🎧 How America Left Its Water Systems Open to Hackers

U.S. officials spent years warning that local water utilities were vulnerable to cyberattacks. This summer, those vulnerabilities became impossible to ignore.

   -- Also, the FTC is pulling back on an antidiscrimination enforcement 
      mechanism. 
 
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Alphabet's top scientist, Demis Hassabis, held discussions with government officials and leaders of other AI labs about forming a new independent industry safety entity in the weeks before he relinquished his role as chief executive of Google DeepMind.

   -- Hassabis, who co-founded Google DeepMind and is viewed as a pioneer in 
      machine learning, likened the proposed entity to the International Atomic 
      Energy Agency, a nongovernmental watchdog that promotes cooperation on 
      nuclear energy. (WSJ) 

About Us

The WSJ Pro Cybersecurity team is Deputy Bureau Chief Kim S. Nash and reporters Angus Loten and James Rundle. Follow us on X @WSJCyber. Reach the team by replying to any newsletter you receive or by emailing Kim at kim.nash@wsj.com.

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