4 ms·

I can think of maybe 20 countries where people would do this before DPRK, not least China, but quite a few in Europe to, Poland, India. why DPRK? like the level

I can think of maybe 20 countries where people would do this before DPRK, not least China, but quite a few in Europe to, Poland, India. why DPRK? like the level of Pakistan CS grads is probably better than most US ivy league grads, cant imagine DPRK has much of a CS education system.

deleted 2y ago
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edm0nd 2y ago
From my discussions with various LE agents and attending a few talks, NK will send them off to some of the best colleges in either India or China to learn programming, computer science, networking, hacking, and etc. to learn and get a good education. Then they either travel back to NK to become part of something like Lazarus Group (NK nation-state hacking group), or they get assigned to something like this employee scheme to obtain and send funds back to NK.
- DarkmSparks 2y ago
  I'm sure they have a few thousand such candidates out and about. But surely insignificant to the hundreds of millions in China, India, Indonesia etc. Why DPRK when the alternatives are so much more numerous? The entire population of DPRK is only 26mil, the entire country is half the size of the city Jakarta. Most Americans probably outright lie on their CV, that tells you nothing.
  - edm0nd 2y ago
    More like tens of thousands. The Lazarus Group alone is suspected to be comprised of ~3,500+ people. If I had to guess, likely because the NK workers are highly motivated to succeed under threats of duress and threats involving their families/own life. I dont think these employers are willingly hiring DPRK workers over other countries, likely more so that DPRK are more ruthless and aggressive with their application applying processes and have it dialed in pretty well using shared intel and techniques to improve their success rates. Afterall, it is a nation-state backed campaign so they have a lot of resources to put into it.
    - DarkmSparks 2y ago
      again, e.g. China is far more equiped and active in this practice https://m.youtube.com/shorts/A8L4QjIHL4k https://m.youtube.com/shorts/A8L4QjIHL4k using 100s of millions of people out of their several Billion population. How to differentiate between them and the few thousand DPRK emigrants do the same?
ummonk 2y ago
They sent a team to the ICPC 5 years ago and ranked 8th: https://cphof.org/standings/icpc/2019 https://cphof.org/standings/icpc/2019

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

edm0nd 2y ago

From my discussions with various LE agents and attending a few talks, NK will send them off to some of the best colleges in either India or China to learn programming, computer science, networking, hacking, and etc. to learn and get a good education. Then they either travel back to NK to become part of something like Lazarus Group (NK nation-state hacking group), or they get assigned to something like this employee scheme to obtain and send funds back to NK.

DarkmSparks 2y ago
I'm sure they have a few thousand such candidates out and about. But surely insignificant to the hundreds of millions in China, India, Indonesia etc. Why DPRK when the alternatives are so much more numerous? The entire population of DPRK is only 26mil, the entire country is half the size of the city Jakarta. Most Americans probably outright lie on their CV, that tells you nothing.
- edm0nd 2y ago
  More like tens of thousands. The Lazarus Group alone is suspected to be comprised of ~3,500+ people. If I had to guess, likely because the NK workers are highly motivated to succeed under threats of duress and threats involving their families/own life. I dont think these employers are willingly hiring DPRK workers over other countries, likely more so that DPRK are more ruthless and aggressive with their application applying processes and have it dialed in pretty well using shared intel and techniques to improve their success rates. Afterall, it is a nation-state backed campaign so they have a lot of resources to put into it.
  - DarkmSparks 2y ago
    again, e.g. China is far more equiped and active in this practice https://m.youtube.com/shorts/A8L4QjIHL4k https://m.youtube.com/shorts/A8L4QjIHL4k using 100s of millions of people out of their several Billion population. How to differentiate between them and the few thousand DPRK emigrants do the same?

ummonk 2y ago

They sent a team to the ICPC 5 years ago and ranked 8th: https://cphof.org/standings/icpc/2019 https://cphof.org/standings/icpc/2019