Latest / Turley Talks / Ep. 4232 Federal Officials Just BUSTED North Korean Laptop Farms in TEXAS!!!

Transcript

Ep. 4232 Federal Officials Just BUSTED North Korean Laptop Farms in TEXAS!!! · Turley Talks

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The liberal globalist order is on its brink and awakening a new conservative age.
• 0:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Steve Turley, join me every day as we discover answers to today's toughest challenges and explore the re-bondalization of conservative civilization.
• 0:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is Turley Talks.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: While rumors about Kim Jong-un's death dominate the internet, federal officials just uncovered a North Korean operation inside American homes.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: What if an American company hired a software developer, shipped out a laptop, and started paying a salary only to discover that the money was actually helping support North Korea's weapons programs?
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, according to federal investigators, that's exactly the kind of scheme that they've been uncovering right here in the United States and the infrastructure allegedly making it possible American computers sitting inside American homes.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: This month, authorities announced a crackdown on so-called laptop farms.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: 185 laptops sees from all across the state of Texas all showing the extent of North Korea's infiltration into American tech industry.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here's how the scheme works.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So North Korean IT workers applied for remote positions at American firms using stolen or fabricated identities,
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: but of course there's a practical problem to that.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: How could someone overseas convincingly appear to be an employee working from inside the United States?
• 1:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's where laptop farms like this one,
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: are set up to function as a pass through between the North Korean IT workers and American companies.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So someone here in the United States sets up these laptop farms and usually gets a cut of the salary that's paid to the disguise North Korean IT worker.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: All computers are configured for remote access.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the computer is here.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: but the worker controlling it is overseas.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the physical location of the computer helped disguise the actual location and identity of the person using it remotely now.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to investigators, these arrangements enabled North Korean workers to access American corporate systems while facilitators transferred earnings to North Korean controlled accounts.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: During Operation Loanstar Roundup, federal agents search more than 40 Texas residences and seized approximately 187 laptops and related remote control devices, including roughly 100 devices in Northern Texas.
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And this was not simply about somebody collecting an unauthorized paycheck.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: authorities alleged that the broader operations generate revenue for North Korea's sanctioned weapons programs.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: And this is the point where a cybersecurity story becomes a geopolitical story.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Often when we hear technological competition, we tend to picture extraordinary things, you know, advanced chips, AI, hypersonic weapons, giant data centers, but consider the lesson of these laptop farms.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: you don't necessarily need to invent a revolutionary technology to achieve a geopolitical strategic advantage.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, all you need to do is understand how to repurpose somebody else's ordinary infrastructure.
• 3:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here, investigators describe employer laptops, remote access tools, false identities,
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: and online employment being combined into a system for generating revenue for a hostile regime.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is what's known as techno politics, technology operating as an instrument of political power.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The important question with techno politics is not simply what can this machine do?
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's who controls it, who benefits from it, and what larger political objectives does it serve.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, in this case, authorities describe a chain connecting remote employment to earnings and earnings to North Korea's sanction weapons programs.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: A laptop on a table becomes one small component in a much larger strategic system, and the financial scale of the broader threat is very significant.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: The Treasury Department attributes nearly $800 million in revenue during 2024 to North Korean IT worker scams.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, remember as an authoritarian regime, the North Korean government can't rely on tax dollars for its revenue.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: That would put it at the mercy of the taxpayer of the govern.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, like all the authoritarian regimes, they rely on cash flow from other means.
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that would be oil revenue or weapon sales or black market sales, you name it.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so the North Korean regime is particularly inventive and all the kinds of ways it bypasses.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: international sanctions and finds cash flow sources, and what makes this bust so fascinating is that the geopolitical competition is centered around two societies using the same computers, the same programming languages, and the same digital marketplaces.
• 5:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were sharing tools while pursuing fundamentally incompatible objectives.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to investigators, North Korean operators used access to American employment infrastructure to generate resources for their own regime and its weapons program.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: So the common technological connection ended up becoming the way of financing North Korea's strategic antagonism.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this is what makes techno politics so fascinating.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Civilization competition doesn't have to happen only between separate technological systems.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: It can actually happen inside a shared system.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can picture rival powers building competing platforms and networks, but we also need to picture an adversary operating within another country's
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: commercial ecosystem, exploiting the very connections that make that ecosystem productive.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: The laptop farm makes that possibility tangible.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not a rival internet somewhere beyond the horizon, a rival operation, allegedly using American computers inside American homes.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: But ironically,
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those very same computers and the internet into which they all connect are turning against North Korea even as we speak.
• 7:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: There are now rumors that their supreme leader may not even be alive.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I kid you not wait.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: until you see this.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: But first gang mid-terms are right around the corner, and while everyone is asking who's going to control Congress, I want to ask you something close to the home.
• 7:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's your plan to build wealth and earn more income no matter who wins?
• 7:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot on the line on November 3rd with implications that could affect taxes, regulation, the markets, the economy, and your financial decisions, but the absolute best way to fight back is to become an owner rather than just a consumer.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's why I'm excited to tell you about my friend, Jeff Rickowski.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jeff is a pastor, Navy veteran, investor, and the founder of Kingdom 320.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: a faith-based real estate training and education company through practical real estate education, experience coaching, and a faith-driven community.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Kingdom 320 helps believers learn how to invest in real estate God's way so it can become better leaders, investors, and stewards of the wealth real estate can create.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's why I call the Patriot economy in action or better yet,
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: here on earth.
• 8:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because when you have more income, you can provide for your family, give more causes you care about and pursue the calling God is placed in your life.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jeff is who I trust with all my real estate education over the last 20 years.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's trained more than 30,000 people and is accumulated more than a quarter of a billion dollars in real estate assets.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now Jeff wants to show you
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: his secrets for building more income from real estate as well during just upcoming free faith and freedom masterclass on October 28th he'll pull back the curtain on his proven passive and active investment strategies to help you reach your financial goals including his unique biblically inspired deal finding strategy that could help you earn an extra
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: a single property and I'll show you how AI is making investing in real estate faster and easier than ever before.
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Plus when you join just free masterclass in October 28th, he'll even include several special bonuses just for attending his hidden deals blueprint, which is a step-by-step guide finding deals before they hit the market.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: His five-minute deal analyzer, which is the same tool
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the Kingdom 320 Capital Raising Playbook, a quick guide that will show you how to fund deals without using traditional banks.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Again, the faith and freedom masterclass is free, but spots are limited.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So scan the QR code on your screen or go to investgonsway.com to register now.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: While investigators uncover North Korea's hidden operations abroad, another mystery keeps drawing attention back to Pyeong-young.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: What is happening to Kim Jong-un?
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Fresh rumors are claiming that the North Korean leader had suffered a brain hemorrhage.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was rushed to Beijing, and he reportedly died.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those rumors got so widespread that North Korean state media released photographs showing Kim touring, clothing, and footwear exhibition alongside his daughter, although the BBC
• 10:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: This isn't the first time that Kim Jong-un was reported as having died.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just a few years back, back in April of 2020, there were reports that the Supreme Leader had cardiac surgery and that he had not been seen since.
• 10:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: He ended up missing in April 15th commemoration.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: of the 108th birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il-Son, who's the founder of the Republic of North Korea, and who's seen it's kind of a demigod by the North Korean people.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's when there were all these rumors that started circulating the Kim Jong-un had in fact died.
• 11:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Where's the Japanese media reported that he was in a vegetative state?
• 11:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, those weren't true.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we'll have to see about the latest on these claims, but that, of course, raises the question, why do these stories, these rumors keep returning?
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Why are there so many rumors recurring about Kim Jong-un's death?
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, first, of course, it's the secrecy that pervades North Korean society.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reliable information about North Korea's leadership is exceptionally difficult to obtain, and that leaves an information vacuum, you know, like having the flu for two weeks, right?
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: It leaves an information vacuum that makes dramatic rumors difficult to verify, but easy to circulate.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, there are genuine health concerns.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, Kim is significantly overweight, he's a heavy smoker, and South Korean intelligence has warned about cardiovascular risk, given that heart problems and stroke features in his family history.
• 12:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the biggest issue when all said and done is the question of succession.
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: South Korean intelligence believes Kim may be preparing his daughter, Kim Juae,
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, she's thought to be only 13 and has not been formally designated as his successor.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: That uncertainty gives every health rumor enormous geopolitical weight because a sudden leadership crisis could raise questions about things like, you know, who controls North Korea's nuclear weapons or whether rival factions might struggle for power, particularly Kim Jong-un's sister, or whether instability could spill out across borders.
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this is why an unverified rumor attracts worldwide attention, the uncertainty concerns not just one man's health, but the future leadership of a nuclear arms state.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then that brings us back to those laptops in Texas.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: The rumors of Kim's death remain unsubstantiated, but the uncertainty surrounding a succession raises a serious question, who would inherit control of a nuclear arms state?
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, American investigators alleged that laptop farms have helped generate revenue for that same state's weapons programs.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So one story concerns, again, certainty on the top of the regime, the other exposes an alleged mechanism helping sustain its power.
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: So this is where techno politics and civilizational competition becomes very tangible.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sharing computers, markets, and networks does not necessarily mean sharing a vision for the future.
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those connections can become instruments of rivalry.
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So while the world watches Pyongyang for signs of who rule next, the laptop farms form a different question, whose power are our own technologies helping to preserve.
• 14:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The Turley Talks Podcast.
• 14:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't forget to subscribe, leave us a five star review, and share this episode with your friends.
• 14:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Help us defeat the fake news media and rank us the number one news and commentary podcast all over the world.
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Come back again tomorrow for another episode celebrating the rise of a new conservative age.