According to a report by Decrypt, a 40-year-old man from Maryland, Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong, was sentenced to 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release for helping North Korean agents secretly place themselves within U.S. tech companies. Between 2021 and 2024, Vong used false credentials to obtain software development positions at at least 13 U.S. companies, which paid him over $970,000 in salary, while the actual work was done remotely by North Korean agents located in China. Some companies also outsourced Vong's services to U.S. government agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), allowing these agents unauthorized access to sensitive government systems.