Onboarding and the service desk have become the new identity perimeter This article explores identity scenarios security. . An employee was unable to receive multi-factor authentication prompts due to their phone being broken.
In 2024, the American Hospital Association revealed that cybercriminals had amassed sufficient employee data, including corporate identifiers and partial Social Security numbers, to convincingly impersonate legitimate users. In July 2025, the Department of Justice announced that a woman from Arizona was found guilty of aiding North Korean IT specialists in obtaining remote jobs at over 300 US companies. In July 2026, the US, Japan, and South Korea issued a new alert that North Korean IT specialists are employing advanced techniques, including AI, to mask their identities and secure employment.
Both methods manipulate the process by which organizations evaluate whether someone is entitled to a digital identity: - When targeting the onboarding process, the attacker claims, "I am your new employee; provide me with an identity." - When targeting the service desk, the attacker pretends, "I am already your employee; assist me in obtaining my identity." When targeting the onboarding process, the attacker claims, "I am your new employee; provide me with an identity."
When targeting the service desk, the attacker pretends, "I am already your employee; assist me in obtaining my identity." In both scenarios, the security breach occurs during the verification process.
