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Unchained · August 13 · 18 min

I Went Undercover to Interview a North Korean Crypto Hacker

Under a fake name and a fake Zoom account, Laura Shin interviewed one of North Korea's state-sponsored crypto developers. Laura Shin went undercover as a recruiter named "Sophie Wang" to conduct a job interview with a state-sponsored IT worker going by the name “Justin Lim.” Lims’s online presence showed he had technical chops, multiple crypto dev gigs under his belt, and a privileged location. He had also allegedly stolen $2.7 million from MetaPlay in 2022. The interview shows the quirks of chitchatting with a North Korean “IT worker,” how adept they can be with blockchain technology, and what questions give them away as henchmen for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Crypto companies Consensys to Sushi have unknowingly hired North Korean state hackers for years. This is what it looks like to ask the one question that gives them away. Host Laura Shin - Founder, CEO and Host of Unchained Sponsor Visit 1inch.com to swap tokenized securities, crypto and more. Simple. Secure. Self-custodial. Whatever asset you’re buying - swap it at 1inch.com Timestamps: 🇰🇵 00:10 Why Laura Shin went undercover to interview a North Korean crypto hacker 📁 02:44 The dossier: GitHub handles, stolen wallets, and a $2.7M MetaPlay heist 💻 06:26 The Zoom call begins: meeting 'Justin Lim,' the DPRK developer 💰 09:15 1inch Aqua: Back multiple liquidity positions with one wallet balance at https://1inch.com/aqua 🛠️ 10:12 How Lim forked Velas Network and sped up The Graph's indexing 🔐 11:38 Lim's answers on multisig wallets, reentrancy attacks, and Bybit's $1.5B hack 🎯 14:01 The holy grail question: can he say something negative about Kim Jong Un? 💔 17:01 Why the interview left Laura with sadness and gratitude Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Under a fake name and a fake Zoom account, Laura Shin interviewed one of North Korea's state-sponsored crypto developers.


Laura Shin went undercover as a recruiter named "Sophie Wang" to conduct a job interview with a state-sponsored IT worker going by the name “Justin Lim.” 

Lims’s online presence showed he had technical chops, multiple crypto dev gigs under his belt, and a privileged location. He had also allegedly stolen $2.7 million from MetaPlay in 2022.

The interview shows the quirks of chitchatting with a North Korean “IT worker,” how adept they can be with blockchain technology, and what questions give them away as henchmen for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Crypto companies Consensys to Sushi have unknowingly hired North Korean state hackers for years. This is what it looks like to ask the one question that gives them away.

Host

Sponsor

  • Visit 1inch.com to swap tokenized securities, crypto and more. Simple. Secure. Self-custodial. Whatever asset you’re buying - swap it at 1inch.com  


Timestamps:

🇰🇵 00:10 Why Laura Shin went undercover to interview a North Korean crypto hacker

📁 02:44 The dossier: GitHub handles, stolen wallets, and a $2.7M MetaPlay heist

💻 06:26 The Zoom call begins: meeting 'Justin Lim,' the DPRK developer

💰 09:15 1inch Aqua: Back multiple liquidity positions with one wallet balance at https://1inch.com/aqua 

🛠️ 10:12 How Lim forked Velas Network and sped up The Graph's indexing

🔐 11:38 Lim's answers on multisig wallets, reentrancy attacks, and Bybit's $1.5B hack

🎯 14:01 The holy grail question: can he say something negative about Kim Jong Un?

💔 17:01 Why the interview left Laura with sadness and gratitude

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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