The U.S. Department of Justice has sentenced eight individuals for facilitating North Korean IT workers in a scheme that targeted nearly 70 American companies. These individuals, referred to as "laptop farmers," helped North Korean operatives impersonate U.S. employees by installing remote desktop software on work laptops. This operation generated $1.2 million for North Korea, with Matthew Issac Knoot and Erick Ntekereze Prince each receiving 18-month prison sentences in May. The scheme primarily targeted technical roles within cryptocurrency companies, aiming to steal assets or infiltrate infrastructure. Last month, Kejia Wang and Zhenxing Wang were sentenced to 9 years and 7 years and 8 months, respectively, for running a larger operation that netted over $5 million for North Korea. The number of companies employing North Korean workers has surged by 220% in the past year, with over 320 enterprises affected.