Elite hackers of North Korea. Five -year -olds are recruited and transformed into cyber soldiers. Sent to specialization in China and Russia
Kim Jong-un builds his army of hackers from the age of five. An analyst in the field of cyber security draws attention to a systematic strategy by which the North Korean leader selects talented children from primary schools to train them to become the best hackers in the world, who will especially target the West.
Hacker recruitment takes place from primary/ photo classes: x/@natalierevolts
Recruitment takes place from primary classes, and children who demonstrate remarkable skills in science and mathematics are identified and prepared to become true genius in the field of cyber technologies. This is just the beginning of a road that extends over several years, reaching elite schools in Phenian and technology universities in North Korea, such as Kim Ir-Sen University or Kim Chaek University.
Specialization in China and Russia
A surprising detail is the fact that young hackers are sent, for a period of about a year, to China or Russia to learn about global internet – an inaccessible concept in North Korea, where the Internet is extremely restricted, and most citizens can only access a censored intranet.
After graduation, these young hackers are integrated into special cyber war units, prepared to carry out devastating attacks on Western countries. The recruitment is done in a pyramidal system, where the best of the best are selected to become the regimen cyber soldiers.
The advantages that the regime offers
Kim Jong-un, aware of the importance of loyalty to the regime, gives the best hackers many advantages: their parents can receive better homes or even move to the capital, and married hackers have guaranteed access to Phenian. In addition, they benefit from food subsidies and a generous salary when sent in external missions.
In this context, the activities of the Lazarus group, a cyber unit of North Korea, shocked the world through its large attacks, including the largest robbery in cryptocurrency history, when they stole $ 1.2 billion in an Ethereum wallet.
The “Lazarus group” is not only a unit, but a shadow that covers several extremely well -trained cyber groups, in order to break the security systems and steal funds. Cyber attacks have become a vital source of income for Kim Jong-un regime, which, hit by international sanctions, depends on such methods to finance their nuclear and ballistic missiles.
Despite international efforts to counteract these attacks, it seems that no system is completely immune to the new “cyber children” of the North Korean regime. In this context, the West seems more and more vulnerable to a technological threat that has its roots in a systematic and well-developed education, starting from an early age.
