Japan, the United States, Australia and Germany publicly attributed WaterPlum, also known as Contagious Interview, to North Korea and said the group stole at least ¥1.7 billion, or roughly $11.5 million, in digital assets through fake job offers targeting IT engineers. The campaign infected at least 30,000 machines in more than 100 countries and regions, including Japan, and stole about 7,000 crypto wallet records. The joint advisory placed the group under the 313th General Bureau of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee's Military Industry Department. Japanese police also identified domestic laptop farms remotely operated by North Korean IT workers that sent hundreds of millions of yen overseas, including crypto, and said a Japanese crypto exchange detected job applications from such workers during interviews. Earlier reporting put the stolen value at about $10.7 million, while the new official announcement cited roughly $11.5 million. The National Police Agency urged companies and IT engineers to review the advisory, treat unsolicited recruitment as a security risk and strengthen their defenses.