“How Fat Is Kim Jong Un?” Is Now a Cybersecurity Test
- North Korean IT operatives are gaming the global job market. This simple question has them beat. -
May 2, 2025
AI-generated image.North Korean hackers are infiltrating companies by day—and quietly funding missiles by night. Their cover? Remote jobs at Fortune 500s and crypto startups. But while their tech is top-tier, they have a weakness. The trick to outing them, apparently, is asking one surprisingly blunt question: “How fat is Kim Jong Un?”
So how fat is he?We’ve asked around at ZME Science and apparently, we’re free from North Korean interference. But many companies aren’t so fortunate. But if you feel this is a real risk, you should try it.
The question isn’t meant to be funny — it’s strategic. North Korean IT workers abroad risk severe punishment if they’re ever caught criticizing their leader, even in private. As a result, asking them to say anything negative about Kim Jong Un is a minefield.
According to cybersecurity experts, that question alone has caused multiple suspected North Korean operatives to terminate job interviews instantly. It’s crude but it’s working. “They terminate the call instantly, because it’s not worth it to say something negative about that,” said Adam Meyers, senior vice president of Counter Adversary Operations at CrowdStrike, during a recent panel at the RSA Conference, according to a report from The Register.
Startup founders have caught on. Harrison Leggio, CEO of the crypto firm g8keep, told Fortune he ends every interview with that exact challenge. “The first time I ever did it, the person started freaking out and cursing,” Leggio said. The applicant then blocked him on all social media. This is where it gets even weirder: the more Leggio did it, the more people responded the same way. He estimates that 95% of the résumés he gets are from North Koreans pretending to be U.S.-based developers. “Say something negative about Kim Jong Un” has become his line in the sand.
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| | Interesting way to discover North Korean cyber operatives: Ask them how fat is Kim Jong Un.
Perhaps the same might work with the Chinese: Ask them how many millions of innocents did Mao kill.
Of course, now that the trick is out, it will probably no longer work.
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