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This is doubly concerning: Not only for researchers, but also for the public. I always imagined the North Koreans to be at a technical level where they would b

This is doubly concerning: Not only for researchers, but also for the public. I always imagined the North Koreans to be at a technical level where they would be the ones consuming published exploits more so than imagining their own. This article means that they are advanced enough to focus on suppressing knowledge rather than consuming what is publicly available.

the_af 3y ago
In the world of (cyber)espionage I can't ever tell what's true and what's exaggeration, but I'm under the impression North Korean hackers have been deemed a serious threat for many years now. In other words, this is not news...
Zetice 3y ago
DPRK’s top 1% live what amounts to an upper middle class life, and tend to educate their children abroad. My understanding is that they even have access to an unfiltered Internet supplied by China. The threat of extermination of their families if they step out of line politically seems to keep those people in check.
- isk517 3y ago
  I would think they are kept in check the same way the upper middle class is kept in check pretty much everywhere in the world. They live a very comfortable life style and have no interest in doing anything that would jeopardize that.
  - Zetice 3y ago
    That's a latent function present to varying degrees in every society (who wants to rock the boat if you're having a good ride?), whereas the threat to one's family is more of a manifest function, sociologically speaking.
distortionfield 3y ago
You should certainly update your perception of NK then. They stole more crypto than anyone else in 2022. [1] 1 - https://www.reuters.com/technology/record-breaking-2022-north-korea-crypto-theft-un-report-2023-02-06/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/record-breaking-2022-nort...
- hulitu 3y ago
  > You should certainly update your perception of NK then. They stole more crypto than anyone else in 2022. I never heard of anyone stoling crypto, so you might be right. /s
mackey 3y ago
There is an interesting podcast called Lazarus Heist that covers this stuff.
- gnyman 3y ago
  Second this, produced by BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvg9 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvg9 Gave a lot of insight and background into North Korean hackers, how they operate, how they live and so on. I was familiar with their operations from before, like the SWIFT hack from being in the infosec field. But I still learned a lot.

the_af 3y ago

In the world of (cyber)espionage I can't ever tell what's true and what's exaggeration, but I'm under the impression North Korean hackers have been deemed a serious threat for many years now. In other words, this is not news...

Zetice 3y ago

DPRK’s top 1% live what amounts to an upper middle class life, and tend to educate their children abroad. My understanding is that they even have access to an unfiltered Internet supplied by China. The threat of extermination of their families if they step out of line politically seems to keep those people in check.

isk517 3y ago
I would think they are kept in check the same way the upper middle class is kept in check pretty much everywhere in the world. They live a very comfortable life style and have no interest in doing anything that would jeopardize that.
- Zetice 3y ago
  That's a latent function present to varying degrees in every society (who wants to rock the boat if you're having a good ride?), whereas the threat to one's family is more of a manifest function, sociologically speaking.

distortionfield 3y ago

You should certainly update your perception of NK then. They stole more crypto than anyone else in 2022. [1] 1 - https://www.reuters.com/technology/record-breaking-2022-north-korea-crypto-theft-un-report-2023-02-06/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/record-breaking-2022-nort...

hulitu 3y ago
> You should certainly update your perception of NK then. They stole more crypto than anyone else in 2022. I never heard of anyone stoling crypto, so you might be right. /s

mackey 3y ago

There is an interesting podcast called Lazarus Heist that covers this stuff.

gnyman 3y ago
Second this, produced by BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvg9 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvg9 Gave a lot of insight and background into North Korean hackers, how they operate, how they live and so on. I was familiar with their operations from before, like the SWIFT hack from being in the infosec field. But I still learned a lot.