Reuters: North Korea selects and trains hackers from the age of 11, who can take up to 30% of the proceeds from successful operations.

PANews November 6 news, according to Reuters, North Korea has established a hacker training system that has been operating for more than a decade: each year it selects about 150 to 200 students around the age of 11 or 12 from the middle school level to study computer science, and at age 17 the best of them enter top universities and undergo further screening, with only a small number ultimately entering the military cyber unit. The report cited defectors as saying that the military unit where the hackers are based can receive a dollar share of up to 30% of the stolen proceeds after a successful attack, and that top hackers can also receive housing in Pyongyang and large foreign exchange rewards. According to a 2024 estimate by South Korea's National Intelligence Service, North Korea has about 8,400 cyber warfare personnel.

PANews November 6 news, according to Reuters, North Korea has established a hacker training system that has been operating for more than a decade: each year it selects about 150 to 200 students around the age of 11 or 12 from the middle school level to study computer science, and at age 17 the best of them enter top universities and undergo further screening, with only a small number ultimately entering the military cyber unit. The report cited defectors as saying that the military unit where the hackers are based can receive a dollar share of up to 30% of the stolen proceeds after a successful attack, and that top hackers can also receive housing in Pyongyang and large foreign exchange rewards. According to a 2024 estimate by South Korea's National Intelligence Service, North Korea has about 8,400 cyber warfare personnel.