North Korea is identifying talented students as young as 11 or 12 and selecting a small number for military hacking roles, according to a Reuters investigation published November 6.
The report, based on interviews with a former North Korean trainer, defectors and security analysts, describes a state program that screens roughly 150 to 200 middle-school students each year for computer-science training.
Candidates who perform best are sent to North Korea’s leading universities at 17 and undergo further screening before a select few enter the military’s cyber units, Reuters reported. Their training includes cryptocurrency protocols, reverse-engineering foreign hardware, advanced mathematics and foreign languages.
The report says successful operators may receive hard-currency rewards, apartments in Pyongyang, travel opportunities and other privileges.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service estimated in 2024 that about 8,400 people were involved in North Korea’s cyberwarfare, a figure Yonhap also reported. The workforce includes more than the hackers carrying out intrusions. South Korea’s Cyber Operations Command separately reported more than 10,000 attempted attacks against South Korean targets in the first nine months of 2024, according to Yonhap.
Reuters linked the force’s activities to the $6.3 billion Binance theft, which the FBI attributed to the North Korean TraderTraitor operation in its October 31 alert; Abijita’s report on the FBI attribution outlines the agency’s finding. The FBI said it had observed the attackers converting stolen assets primarily into Ether. North Korea has denied responsibility, as detailed in its response to the Binance allegations.
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Reuters also reported that North Korean IT workers and hackers use AI tools for coding, résumé creation and identity fabrication, while defectors and human-rights groups described long hours, surveillance and strict earnings targets.
