North Korea's army of world-class hackers is secret weapon that took down Binance

North Korea’s cyber program is described as a state-backed talent pipeline that the FBI and Binance say was behind the $6.3 billion Binance hack. A Reuters report says leader Kim Jong Un rewards top hackers with incentives such as an apartment in Pyongyang and large awards in hard currency. The program, more than a decade old, starts by selecting 150–200 middle-school students each year—sometimes as young as 11 or 12—to study computer engineering, according to a defector and analysts. Those who test best at 17 move to top universities and face additional screening before entering the military’s cyber unit. Training can include cryptocurrency protocols and reverse-engineering, while other students may be assigned to remote software work for Western firms. Pyongyang denies responsibility.