PANews reported on December 6th that, according to Decrypt, a Maryland man named Minh Phuong Ngoc Vong was sentenced to 15 months in prison for helping North Korea secretly plant IT personnel in U.S. companies. Ngoc Vong secured jobs at U.S. tech companies on behalf of overseas conspirators, possibly including a North Korean citizen. This scheme enabled foreign agents to gain unauthorized access to sensitive government systems, including defense-related ones.