ZachXBT Challenges the Myth of North Korean Hackers’ ‘Genius’

According to him, North Korean IT specialists are simply incompetent workers.

The media often stokes fear by portraying North Korean hackers as “big and scary,” but this is not the case, according to on-chain sleuth ZachXBT. 

The media likes to fear monger that North Koreans are all big scary hackers.

From my personal experience IT workers are the people that were too incompetent to make their more elusive sub-groups (DangerousPW/Sapphire Sleet, TraderTraitor, AppleJeus, etc).

Nothing about ITWs…

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 22, 2025

“From my personal experience, IT workers [from North Korea] are simply people who were too incompetent to join the more elusive sub-groups,” he wrote. 

ZachXBT’s comments came in response to an interview with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who discussed changes in hiring practices due to threats from North Korea. The exchange has shifted its candidate selection process to an offline format. 

Now, the platform requires all applicants to be physically present in the US, have their cameras on during interviews, and hold American citizenship. Those working with confidential data are even required to provide fingerprints. 

ZachXBT considers these measures excessive. In his view, negligence is the real issue. Most North Korean hacker attacks can be prevented with minimal checks, he noted.  

“You can create a fake job for a fake company, and North Korean IT specialists will flood it with applications. Making them do silly things—like barking like a dog or meowing like a cat during a call—is easy. Honestly, it’s time to start trolling them on YouTube like Indian phone scammers,” he added. 

Earlier in August, an unknown user hacked the account of a North Korean IT specialist. At the time, ZachXBT stated that vulnerabilities are exacerbated by the overburdened HR departments in crypto companies.