To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll

To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll

Rubrik | Nicole Perlroth | Pod People

Episodes 14
Avg. Duration 46m
Activity Highly Active
Apple Rating 4.8 (378)
Since Mar 2025
Latest Episode Jun 2026

Publishing Details

Schedule
Every 2 Weeks
Format
Serial
Consistency
35%
Hosting
feeds.megaphone.fm

Contact & Outreach

About This Podcast

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, TJ Raphaël, 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.

Explore Statistics

Recent Episodes

S2E1 Ep. 1: Strange Things Are Happening

Jun 09, 2026 54m

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…

S2 Coming soon - An “inside-out” look at North Korea’s covert IT workforce

Jun 04, 2026 5m Trailer

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…

S1E10 OUT OF BAND | The Breaking Point: Inside Mythos' Zero-Day Machine with Anthropic's Nicholas Carlini

May 04, 2026 1h 16m

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…

S1E9 Ep 9: The New Frontline

May 29, 2025 1h 41m

Colonial Pipeline was a warning shot. Now, Chinese hackers are inside the digital guts of hundreds of Colonial equivalents across the U.S.—power, water, transportation, and more. The question isn’t…

S1E8 Ep 8: Living Off The Land

May 05, 2025 34m

Cyber experts start getting called into electric, water, pipeline, railway, and transportation hubs around the country. Hackers have found a clever way to embed in these systems, using a small,…

S1E7 Ep 7: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Apr 28, 2025 45m

The General Manager of an electric and water utility in Littleton, Mass. gets a surprise call from the FBI. At first he suspects the caller is a spammer, but soon he learns the agent is very real.…

S1E6 Ep 6: The Gunslingers

Apr 14, 2025 32m

During China’s pseudo-cyber-hiatus, the PRC’s hacking operations get a major overhaul. CCP leadership moves responsibility away from the sloppy, brazen hackers at the People’s Liberation Army to the…

S1E5 Ep 5: A Cyber Detente

Apr 07, 2025 45m

Every U.S. administration, dating back to President H.W. Bush has struggled to address the threat of Chinese trade theft. But a growing sense of urgency kicks in as American businesses start…

S1E4 Ep 4: Naming and Shaming

Mar 31, 2025 40m

As Chinese hackers continue their raid of American companies, the threat reaches new levels of urgency, not so much for the sophistication of these hackers, but because of the sheer volume of…

S1 BONUS: Live Panel with Top China & Cyber Experts at The New York Stock Exchange

Mar 27, 2025 1h 8m Bonus

For this special live recording of To Catch a Thief at The New York Stock Exchange, host and former lead cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for The New York Times, Nicole Perlroth sits down…

S1E3 Ep 3: The Most Dangerous Time in American History

Mar 24, 2025 41m

In Episode 3, host and former lead cybersecurity and digital espionage reporter for The New York Times, Nicole Perlroth visits a welding shop in rural Wisconsin where Chinese hackers have set up shop…

S1E2 Ep 2: Then They Came for Us

Mar 17, 2025 34m

Google discloses its hack and points the finger squarely at Beijing, which spells the end for Google’s business ambitions in China. Other victims stay silent, too fearful to offend the gatekeepers to…

S1E1 Ep 1: The Five Poisons

Mar 17, 2025 39m

Former NSA Director Keith Alexander called it “the greatest transfer of wealth in history.” Hillary Clinton, FBI Director James Comey and President Barack Obama also sounded the alarm on the biggest…

S1 Coming Soon - To Catch a Thief: China’s Rise to Cyber Supremacy

Mar 04, 2025 2m Trailer

American companies, whole towns, have been eviscerated by Chinese cyberattacks. But their stories remain untold, even as the stakes get higher and the targets more reckless.To Catch a Thief is a…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll have?

To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll has published 14 episodes since March 2025, covering topics in Documentary, History.

Is To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll still active?

To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 46m.

How do I contact To Catch a Thief: North Korea On Our Payroll for sponsorship or guest appearances?

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