They busted some North Korean IT workers but how will they prevent this in the future? What are US companies doing to protect themselves?

iirc all you have to do is ask them if they think kim jong un looks fat

Isn’t this only a problem if you treat your employees like (anonymous) resources? I might be ignorant here but in what world do you not realize that someone is a North Korean spy after a couple of 1on1s?

Employ someone, have them meet with the team they work with, either in person or at a controlled office, and have team meetings with them.

That proves the person you know was in the country you expect them to be, and eliminates the whole "local person pretends but the work is done by remote". The meetings mean they are available when you expect them to be.

Now sure they could have somehow got to the expected country to do that original laptop pickup, but you've got bigger problems if they are a spy and living where you expect them to be, and things like turning up to office every day for 8-6 isn't going to stop them.

nothing, they won’t

all of our identities are for sale and can be used to open bank, brokerage and crypto accounts and we’ll never be notified of this. can be used to fill out employment documents

and they can pass the private sector leetcode problems better and more relentlessly while crafting a fake resume to more neatly fit the job description, while leveraging Americas biases to physically look like the candidate they want

nobody is getting hit with sanctions violations, but there isn’t a safe harbor added either

the whole structure is stupid