Ep. 2: The Cell - Accessing the Hidden Discord Ecosystem Behind the North Korea IT Worker Scandal

For the first time ever, host and former lead cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for The New York Times Nicole Perlroth partners with a team of private investigators as they infiltrate a North Korean worker cell.

In this episode of To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll, she uncovers what happens after a security firm hires a man calling himself “Joseph.” By turning the tables on one of the world’s most elusive regimes, investigators gain rare, unprecedented access to their hidden Discord ecosystem: leaderboards tracking job applications, interview evasion tactics, and the disturbing levels of access North Korean workers are getting once inside – including, in one case, at an American nuclear utility.

They also get a bizarre window into the human culture inside these cells – from their obsession with Minions to their pool parties and steak dinners outside North Korea. What emerges is not just a portrait of a sanctions-evasion operation, but a rare glimpse into how North Korea’s remote worker armies think, collaborate, and survive from behind the screen.

To Catch a Thief is co-produced by Nicole Perlroth and Rubrik in partnership with Pod People.

To Catch a Thief was written and produced by Nicole Perlroth, along with Khrista Rypl, T.J. Raphael, Rebecca Chaisson and Sam Gebauer. Additional thanks to Allie Pinel, Fendall Fulton, Krissy Clark, Cai Lee, Eunice Park and Aimee Machado. Editing and Sound Design by Erica Huang. Art direction and design by Ben Long, Gareth Strange and Sarah Burley at the John & Jane Agency, and support from John Leestma.