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To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll podcast artwork
Podcast

To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll

by Rubrik | Nicole Perlroth
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About the show

American companies are being infiltrated—not by hackers breaking in, but by workers.  Thousands of North Korean operatives are applying to jobs across the U.S.—and getting them. They are embedding themselves at Fortune 500 companies. Government agencies. Critical infrastructure. Even the firms tasked with stopping this threat. To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll is a first-of-its-kind audio documentary exposing this global labor pipeline—one that is quietly funneling hundreds of millions of dollars a year back to the regime, and its nuclear weapons program.  Host Nicole Perlroth, bestselling author and former lead cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for The New York Times, takes listeners inside this hidden network—from a rare, inside look at a North Korean IT worker on the job, to interviews with defectors who escaped it, to knocking on the doors of Americans hosting “laptop farms” on North Korea's behalf. Along the way, the series reveals how this playbook is creating a hiring freeze for American workers, in a challenging job market. And how it has metastasized—adopted by cybercriminal groups and fraud networks around the world—blurring the line between nation-state espionage and organized crime. 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.

Latest episodes

  • Ep. 6: The North Korea Model

    July 14, 2026 · 59 min

    North Korea has now successfully planted agents in companies over the world. And while businesses are getting better at flagging it, North Koreans still have to meet quota. Cybersecurity experts fear North Koreans will move to monetize…

  • Ep. 5: The Heists

    July 7, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

    In the decade after Sony, North Korea learned something fundamental: Destructive cyberattacks make headlines. Financial cyberattacks make money. One year after Sony, North Korea pulled off one of the most audacious bank heists in history…

  • Ep. 4: The Sony Playbook

    June 30, 2026 · 45 min

    It’s been nearly 12 years since North Korea launched its crippling attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment over a Seth Rogen film. Most Americans remember the celebrity leaks, the embarrassing emails, the Hollywood spectacle of it all. What…

  • Ep. 3: The Americans

    June 23, 2026 · 54 min

    All North Korean IT worker schemes hinge on one thing: a willing participant in America. We found one, and knocked on her door.Experts have dubbed some of these Americans “laptop farmers.” The North Koreans call them “facilitators”…

  • Ep. 2: The Cell

    June 16, 2026 · 57 min

    Infiltrating the infiltrators. 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…

  • Ep. 1: Strange Things Are Happening

    June 9, 2026 · 54 min

    A new breed of worker is quietly clocking in across the United States. They’re writing code. Managing your passwords. Training the next generation of AI models. They’re gaining trust. And access.  On paper, they’re the dream hire…

  • Season 2 Trailer: An “inside-out” look at North Korea’s covert IT workforce

    June 4, 2026 · 5 min

    To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll is a gripping investigative podcast exposing how thousands of North Korean operatives are quietly getting hired inside American companies, funneling millions back to the regime and its nuclear…

  • OUT OF BAND | The Breaking Point: Inside Mythos' Zero-Day Machine with Anthropic's Nicholas Carlini

    May 4, 2026 · 1 hr 16 min

    Nicole Perlroth sits down with Nicholas Carlini for an Out of Band conversation on the imminent zero-day surge. Carlini explains what Mythos can already do: find and exploit flaws in some of the world’s most hardened, widely deployed…