Tech News Weekly 389: How North Korea Infiltrates U.S. Tech Jobs

Summary

Tech News Weekly 389: How North Korea Infiltrates U.S. Tech Jobs – Detailed Summary

Release Date: May 29, 2025
Host: Micah Sargent, featuring guest Dan Moran of Six Colors

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1. Apple’s Major Overhaul Announced at WWDC

Overview:
Dan Moran opens the discussion by highlighting significant changes expected from Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) slated for June 9 in Cupertino. Apple is rumored to revamp its operating system numbering and design language, marking a departure from its long-standing conventions.

Key Points:

• Operating System Renaming: Apple plans to standardize its OS names across all platforms (iOS, macOS, watchOS, etc.) using the current year as the version number. For instance, instead of having different version numbers like iOS 19 or macOS 16, Apple will adopt a unified numbering system (e.g., iOS 26).

  Dan Moran (04:49): "iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, VisionOS—all of those things will have this 26 branding instead rather than the before where you had iOS 19 and iPadOS 19..."

• Design Language Overhaul: The new aesthetic, rumored to be codenamed "Solarium," is inspired by the sleek, glass-focused design of the Apple Vision Pro. This redesign aims to modernize the user interface, replacing the current design language that has been in place since iOS 7 over a decade ago.

  Dan Moran (02:08): "The biggest perhaps among which is the rumor that we will see a redesigned look and feel of Apple's operating systems across the board."

• Gaming App Initiative: Apple is reportedly developing a game-focused application to serve as a central hub for leaderboards, Apple Arcade promotions, and social connections among gamers. However, Dan expresses skepticism about Apple’s genuine commitment to gaming, noting a lack of authentic passion from executives.

  Dan Moran (07:46): "Apple in gaming has traditionally been something that has not really... it just feels like lip service more than anything to me."

• Challenges with AI Integration: Apple faces pressure to integrate artificial intelligence features, a promise made during the previous year’s WWDC that has yet to materialize. Dan points out that competitors like Google are advancing rapidly in AI, putting Apple at a potential disadvantage.

  Dan Moran (09:40): "Google had its big IO presentation with a ton of... a lot of AI in it. And if you're Apple and roll around this year and your options are what we say, nothing about AI at all. Well, that doesn't look great."

Conclusion:
Apple is undergoing substantial changes to remain competitive, particularly in design and AI integration. The unified OS numbering and refreshed aesthetic aim to streamline user experience, while the foray into a centralized gaming app signifies an attempt to diversify its ecosystem.

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2. YouTube’s Ascension into Prime Time Television

Overview:
Micah Sargent presents a compelling narrative on YouTube’s transformation from a platform for random user-generated content to a dominant force in television viewership and advertising revenue.

Key Points:

• Shift to TV Viewing: Viewers now prefer watching YouTube on their televisions over traditional devices like phones or laptops. This transition is evidenced by scripted series on YouTube garnering tens of millions of views.

  Micah Sargent (12:53): "YouTube has redesigned its platform for TV use, including continuous playback, longer videos, better ad formatting."

• Advertising Revenue Surge: In 2024, YouTube's ad revenue soared to $36 billion, surpassing the combined ad revenues of major broadcast networks. This growth is fueled by high viewership from the coveted 18 to 49 demographic, attracting significant interest from advertisers.

  Micah Sargent (23:30): "Ad revenue grew from 2019, where it was at $15 billion to $36 billion in 2024, which means that YouTube makes more from ads than all four of those broadcast networks combined."

• Creator Economy Expansion: Influencers like Alan Chicken Chow and Dhar Mann are investing heavily in production studios to cater to the growing demand for high-quality content. Despite lower production costs compared to traditional TV shows, their content achieves massive viewership.

  Micah Sargent (15:00): "Alan Chicken Chow went from shorts to full-length sitcom episodes with a show called Allen's Universe that racks up tens of millions of views."

• Competitive Edge Over Traditional Media: YouTube is positioning itself as the new hub for scripted and high-engagement content, challenging the dominance of traditional networks and even streaming giants like Netflix.

  Dan Morin (25:00): "The evolution of it is potentially interesting too... Heck, they’re changing the whole model of how content is consumed and monetized."

Conclusion:
YouTube's strategic pivot to enhance its television viewing experience and invest in high-quality, scripted content has cemented its place as a leading platform for both viewers and advertisers. This shift not only disrupts traditional media models but also empowers content creators to build substantial empires within the digital landscape.

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3. Technology Use Linked to Better Cognitive Aging

Overview:
Micah Sargent delves into a groundbreaking meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University, which challenges the notion that technology contributes to cognitive decline in older adults.

Key Points:

• Study Scope and Findings: The meta-analysis reviewed 57 studies encompassing over 400,000 adults with an average age of 69. It found that regular engagement with digital technologies is associated with a significantly lower risk of cognitive decline.

  Micah Sargent (16:00): "This was done by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University. And it looked at how... cognitive aging is affected by technology use."

• Technological Reserve Hypothesis: The research supports the hypothesis that technology acts as a cognitive reserve, enhancing mental engagement through complex tasks, social connections, and compensatory behaviors that support independence.

  • Cognitively Complex Stimulation: Troubleshooting and managing digital devices require problem-solving and adaptability, thereby keeping the brain active.

    Micah Sargent (21:00): "Digital tasks add layers of complexity from troubleshooting to filtering distractions, which may increase mental engagement."

  • Social Connection: Technology facilitates social interactions, especially for older adults living alone, which is crucial for maintaining cognitive health.

    Micah Sargent (22:00): "One study found the cognitive benefits of Internet use were strongest in older adults who lived alone."

  • Digital Scaffolding: Technology enables older adults to perform daily tasks independently, promoting continued mental and physical activity.

    Micah Sargent (24:00): "Technology use could promote compensatory behaviors, allowing individuals to remain independent longer."

• Comparison to Other Protective Factors: The strength of technology’s association with reduced cognitive decline is comparable to or even greater than established protective factors like education, physical activity, and blood pressure management.

  Micah Sargent (28:00): "They found, 'the strength of association was similar to or greater than many of these well-known protective factors.'"

• Caveats: The study primarily included data from high-income countries, raising questions about its applicability to populations with varying access to technology. Additionally, excessive use of certain technologies like social media may have mixed or negative effects.

  Micah Sargent (26:00): "Social media had mixed results... moderate Internet usage was associated with better outcomes, but excessive usage trended toward worse outcomes."

Conclusion:
Contrary to fears of "digital dementia," the meta-analysis provides robust evidence that technology use can play a protective role in cognitive aging. By fostering mental stimulation, social connections, and independence, digital engagement emerges as a significant factor in maintaining cognitive health among older adults.

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4. North Korean Infiltration of U.S. Tech Jobs

Overview:
The episode culminates with a startling exposé on how North Korea has been infiltrating the U.S. tech job market through deceptive practices, leveraging remote work setups to illicitly funnel money into its sanctioned economy.

Key Points:

• Operation Mechanism: Christina Chapman managed a laptop farm in her Phoenix home, accepting deliveries of laptops, installing remote access software, and facilitating North Korean workers’ access to U.S. tech jobs. This setup enabled North Koreans to work remotely, effectively integrating into the U.S. job market under false pretenses.

  Micah Sargent (50:00): "Christina Chapman filled her home with laptops, accepting deliveries, installing remote access tools, and managing tech support."

• Financial Exploitation: Through this scheme, North Korean operatives have siphoned millions from American companies into their economy. Cryptocurrency theft is a significant component, with over $6 billion stolen, according to Chainalysis.

  Micah Sargent (48:00): "Using this method, North Koreans have stolen over $6 billion in cryptocurrency."

• Recruitment Tactics: North Korea targets vulnerable individuals on platforms like LinkedIn and Upwork, offering seemingly legitimate job opportunities to those in financial distress. These recruits perform tasks such as conducting job interviews or managing multiple remote jobs simultaneously.

  Micah Sargent (52:00): "North Koreans blanket job platforms like LinkedIn and Upwork with offers targeting people in financial distress."

• Consequences for Victims: Americans inadvertently involved in these schemes face severe repercussions, including unexpected tax liabilities and legal troubles due to the high earnings reported under stolen identities.

  Micah Sargent (55:00): "The victims of identity theft... often hit with unexpected tax bills."

• Legal Repercussions: Christina Chapman faced legal consequences for her role, earning under $177,000 while facilitating the transfer of funds to North Korea. She pleaded guilty to charges including wire fraud and money laundering and is now residing in a homeless shelter awaiting sentencing.

  Micah Sargent (57:00): "Chapman was charged with wire fraud, identity theft, and money laundering... she now lives in a homeless shelter in Phoenix."

Notable Quotes:

• FBI Section Chief Gregory Austin (unnamed timestamp):

  "These DPRK IT workers are absolutely able to hold down jobs that pay in the low six figures and sometimes they can hold multiple of these jobs."

• Christina Chapman (52:01):

  "Driverless cars, AI chatbots feels like we're already living in the future."

Conclusion:
North Korea's sophisticated infiltration of the U.S. tech workforce underscores significant vulnerabilities in the remote work paradigm. This scheme not only facilitates massive financial transfers into North Korea but also poses risks of espionage and data breaches within American corporations. The case of Christina Chapman serves as a cautionary tale about the lengths to which state-sponsored entities will go to circumvent international sanctions and exploit digital work environments.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Tech News Weekly provided deep insights into the evolving landscape of technology and its multifaceted impacts—from corporate strategies and media transformations to societal health and international security threats. The discussions emphasized the intricate balance between technological advancement and the emerging challenges it brings.

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For those interested in exploring these topics further, accessing the full episode via TWiT.tv's Tech News Weekly is highly recommended.

Transcript

[Micah Sargent]

Coming up on Tech News Weekly, Dan Moran of Six Colors joins me. We kick off the show talking about how Apple is making some changes to its numbering system for its software, plus loads more about WWDC. Then we talk about how YouTube really is stepping into the big time, taking over the tv. Afterwards, a look at how cognitive aging might be positively affected by technology use. And we round things out with a story about North Korea infiltrating the US Job market. Tune in for this episode of Tech News Weekly to hear about all these great stories, podcasts you love from people you Trust. This is TWiT. This is Tech News Weekly, episode 389 with Denmaren, then me, Micah Sargent. Recorded Thursday, May 29, 2025 How North Korea Infiltrates U.S. tech Jobs. Hello and welcome to Tech News Weekly, the show where every week we talk to and about the people making and breaking the tech news. I am your host of this, the Tech News Weekly podcast. I am back and this week on the fifth Thursday of the month, we are joined by Six Colors east bureau chief and Jeopardy champion. It's D. Morin. How you doing, Dan?

[Dan Morin]

I'm doing okay, Micah. It's always nice to be here on the fifth Thursday. It's so hard to say that it's like the fifth third day. The fifth thirds. The day of fifth thirds. No, the day of fifth. Thurs. I don't know what that is. I'm here. Hello.

[Micah Sargent]

Hi. Hello. Hi. Good to have you here and I think an auspicious time given what is soon to be just around the corner. As many of you know who are tuning in because you've been here before, you know that. We start off the show with our stories of the week with our awesome guests. Dan, I am looking forward to hearing about your story of the week.

[Dan Morin]

My story of the week it is. The time has revolved once again. A year has gone by and as the prophecy is foretold, we are on the cusp of this year's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, which is kicking off in just about 10 days. June 9, I believe, in Cupertino, at which point Apple will take the wraps off of all of this year's announcements. Now, what are this year's announcements? Well, the company likes to play pretty close to the vest there, but obviously leaks get out. Number of things expected this year, the biggest perhaps among which is the rumor that we will see a redesigned look and feel of Apple's operating systems across the board. So we'll see a new aesthetic to replace kind of the one that we have been Using for many years. The current sort of design language evolved from iOS 7, which was a long time ago, more than a decade ago at this point and you know, it's obviously been refined over that time. But you know, there are people who feel it's gotten a little bit long in the tooth and this year Apple seems poised to reinvent it. The rumored code name for this, I believe Solarium, which is reference a little bit to the. It is inspired by, you know, some of the look and feel that we've seen with the Apple Vision Pro, this very glass focused feeling to what exactly things are going to look like. And so that obviously is a big deal, right, because it's the, the way that we all look at and interact with our software. But it is one of only a few changes that has been rumored. This other change that it, you know, came out report yesterday I think which originated Bloomberg but has since been corroborated by other sources, is that Apple will rename all of its operating systems. No more will you have to figure out what number iOS you are on, which does not align with what California place name macOS you are using, which does not align with the watchOS version, the tvOS version, the vision OS version, etc. Etc. Now instead Apple will standardize that across the board with a single simple number the year. So yes, we're skipping straight from iOS 18 to iOS 26. 26, you might note, not this year, no, that's next year. But they're doing the, they're doing the car maker thing where this year's model is actually next year. Right. So it's the, you know, 2026 Honda Accord that gets rolled out in the fall of 2025.

[Micah Sargent]

Why?

[Dan Morin]

I don't know, it's just the way these things happen. It's weird. But you know, this will be the case for everything. So iOS, iPadOS, Mac OS, WatchOS, TVOs, Vision OS, all of those things will have this 26 branding instead rather than the before where you had iOS 19 and iPad OS 19, Mac OS 16, WatchOS 12, TVOS 19 and Vision OS 3. It's an interesting move. I don't know how I feel about it. We'll see when they actually roll it out. I, you know, it's a numbers, a number. I guess you kind of get used to it. My pet peeve with this one is I think they should have the apostrophe like you know, when you abbreviate a year like 2025, you abbreviated apostrophe 25. I don't like that we're just calling it like the rumor is, it's just straight like 26. I think it needs to be. You want? I just don't. Otherwise it just feels like a number.

[Micah Sargent]

Oh, but that looks so messy.

[Dan Morin]

I like it. I don't know, maybe I'm a stickler for iOS 20 rules. Well, I don't know. I mean like, I guess they could have called it iOS 2026. Would that have been better or worse? That's very Windows, I guess at that point. Right, yeah.

[Micah Sargent]

21H2.

[Dan Morin]

I mean Windows didn't even stick with that. You have Windows 95, you have Windows 98, 2000.

[Micah Sargent]

And then I think that was it. The famous year xp.

[Dan Morin]

Yes. That's a roman numeral there.

[Micah Sargent]

Vista also a roman numeral.

[Dan Morin]

Well they, like I said, they didn't really stick with it. So yeah, there's all this, you know, the naming and the design thing obviously big ones. There's been some other rumors as well. There was also a report this week that Apple has got a, a game focused app in the works which would be sort of essential clearinghouse for things like leaderboards. It would have promotional tie ins with Apple Arcade. It would keep track of your friend relationships, et cetera. And if you're saying to yourself, wait a second, didn't Apple used to have an app that did all that? Game center was it.

[Micah Sargent]

I used that.

[Dan Morin]

I know it's still there. It got demoted. It's no longer an app. It's now just part of the system and it's mainly a framework for developers to hook into to add the ability like multiplayer and all those sort of functionalities like leaderboards and competitions, etc. But I think they're trying to make it be a destination this time around. I think that's kind of the goal is to have it be a, like a place that people go like I want to play a game on my phone and that they go into this app, whatever it may be called, and that will be sort of the, the hub. But Apple in gaming has traditionally been something that has not really. It's not exactly peanut butter and jelly is what I'm saying. You know, it's not something they have. Talk a lot. Every once in a while, Tim Cook gets up on stage and talks about how excited he is about gaming. Nobody believes it because it's Tim Cook who has probably never played a video game in his life. No, he probably plays wordle. I mean, come on.

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah, some people don't count that, right?

[Dan Morin]

Yeah, I know. And that's Fine. But like he's not exactly making the case for being a passionate gamer in the way that, you know, when Steve Jobs got up there and used to talk about music, right, you could tell that Steve Jobs was into music. He loved music. You could talk about his enthusiasm and his passion for it. You don't get that necessarily with Coker or I think I would argue with any Apple executive. You see them every once in a while, try it out, those gaming demos and they're standing there like, isn't this cool? And you're like, it's very Steve Buscemi with the skateboard over his shoulder. Hello fellow kids. Right. Like it's, it doesn't feel genuine. And yeah, I'm not convinced that having a new gaming app is going to change that this time around. It just feels like, like lip service more than anything to me. But you know, they get a shot, they get a shot to convince me. And yeah, the other big question about this year's updates, last year we heard about a little thing called Apple Intelligence, which you might remember. Some of those features shipped, some of them did not. And here we are, it's been a year and those promised Siri features, the ones that were perhaps the most anticipated amongst everything Apple talked about, never showed up. Last we heard, they were talking about, oh, just need a little more time. No more time. You know, all, by all accounts, Apple struggling a little bit with AI in what it does. So will we hear about those this time around? Will they talk about them? Will they say those things are shipping? Will they just ignore them? Entirely unclear. We don't know.

[Micah Sargent]

There haven't really been any rumors about it being part of what's going to be announced that I've seen. And that's a little concerning. Yeah, because yeah, arguably though, those features were the most compelling and certainly among the most hyped and yet that is not what we have seen.

[Dan Morin]

Yeah, more the point, you know, I has not stood still in the meantime. Right. All those other companies are pushing forward. Google had its big IO presentation with a ton of, I mean some might say too much, but a lot of AI in it. And if you're Apple and roll around this year and your options are what we say, nothing about AI at all. Well, that doesn't look great. Or we don't talk about the things that we announced last year, well, that's not great. And if we do talk about new things, well, people are going to be rightfully a little more skeptical this year. Right, because you didn't ship everything last year. So if you start trotting out new features that you want to talk about and that you're excited about, people are going to want to see the proof. Right. They're going to want to see the demos, they're going to want to see that this is real and not vaporware.

[Micah Sargent]

And.

[Dan Morin]

And I think all of those things are challenging uphill climbs for Apple when it comes to figuring out what it's doing with artificial intelligence. So that's something to look for in these announcements, is what are they talking about, what are they not talking about? And you know what is kind of the positioning that they're making on staking out new ground for Apple intelligence with their 26 updates. Not that there's 26 of them, but they're called 26.

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah, the 20. The apostrophe 26 updates.

[Dan Morin]

Thank you. That's why there's the apostrophe, Mike. Otherwise it's ambiguous.

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah, you're right. You know what? You've convinced me.

[Dan Morin]

Thank you.

[Micah Sargent]

I don't think they're going to do it.

[Dan Morin]

I don't think they're going to do it either. I'm going to die on this hill, though. It's a very small apostrophe size hill.

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah. I was going to say you could just do this sort of Douglas Adams situation of having your own brain just add it there and so you couldn't pretend that it's there even though it's not.

[Dan Morin]

I'm going to have AI put it in every time.

[Micah Sargent]

There you go.

[Dan Morin]

That's a. I see two birds.

[Micah Sargent]

Nice. Now, do we think that Apple will continue the sort of secondary naming scheme of macOS even though it's going to get a number update?

[Dan Morin]

That's a good question. I don't know. I'm. I think on the one hand it is. It is one of the sort of quirks, you know, friendly quirks that's still there. It gives a little personality. It gives us something that feels a little less soulless. But on the other hand, one of the challenges has been keeping those straight. Right. Like keeping telling your Sonomas from your sequoias. Right. Like that's. That's tricky. I've struggled with that over time, trying to remember which version I'm running or which version something changed in. So I can understand them wanting to get away from that. I've also seen some comments today as I've just been looking around the Internet from some developers who suggest that because some of the versioning number is tied very deeply into elements of the system and like how things work internally. It may be sort of a front facing change, but that the software itself may need to, you know, still rely on these older version numbers. So you may go into your your about screen and be like iOS 26 parentheses iOS 19.0, you know, like might happen, might happen. So. Yeah, well, I guess, I guess we'll find out in about 10 days. But a lot of interesting questions circling around this year's wwdc. Always an interesting show to watch, but you know, this year I feel like a little more pressure on Apple perhaps than usual.

[Micah Sargent]

Absolutely. And let me remind everyone out there if you are a member of Club Twit, very exciting for you. If you aren't, you should join because Leo Laporte and I will be doing an all day event where in the club exclusively. We will be doing commentary for WWDC and and by that I mean the keynote and the follow up of the State of the Union. So we'll be around all day chatting with you all in the club, talking about what's going on and sharing.

[Dan Morin]

I'll try to wave at you guys from, from the audience.

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah, do. That'd be great. Oh, there's Dan. I see him. It's me, it's me. All right, let's take a quick break. Before we come back with my story of the week, I want to tell you about Drata. We're bringing you this episode of Tech News Weekly. If you are leading risk and compliance at your company, well, that likely means you're wearing ten hats at once. You're managing security risks, compliance demands and budget constraints, all while trying not to be seen as that roadblock that slows the business down. But GRC isn't just about checking boxes. No, it's a revenue driver that builds trust, accelerates deals, and strengthens security. That's why modern GRC leaders turn to Drata, a trust management platform that automates those tedious tasks. So you get to focus on your job of reducing risk, proving compliance and scaling your program. With Drata, you can automate security questionnaires, evidence collection and compliance tracking. You can stay audit ready with real time monitoring. And you can simplify security reviews with Drata's Trust center and AI powered questionnaire assistance. Instead of spending hours proving trust, build it faster. With Drata ready to modernize your GRC program, visit drata.comtechnews to learn more. Our thanks to Drata for sponsoring this week's episode of Tech News Weekly. Let's get back to the show. All right, we are back from the break. And that means it's time for my story of the week. For years, YouTube pitched itself as the future of entertainment. That future has arrived. Viewers now spend more time watching YouTube on their televisions than on phones or laptops. Scripted YouTube series are pulling in tens of millions of views. Ad revenue is outpacing the broadcast network combined. And creators like, and let me be clear, I wrote these down. But if I'm saying I'm wrong, I'm sorry. Alan Chicken Chow and Dhar Mann are building full blown studios to meet demand. Hollywood may still call it slop, but for younger audiences, YouTube is the new prime time. Yeah, so this I think has been one of the most like something that sticks out to me that YouTube is this place where people are going not just on their phones, but on their actual televisions, that they are pulling it up in front of them and watching stuff there. And there was a time where YouTube kind of struggled to convince advertisers that it had high quality content and that the big brand brands should be advertising on there. But I think in many cases also that it was a safe place to be putting stuff because I remember a time when I could type in the words YouTube poop and it would just be the most bizarre, strange, and at times NSFW content that was just on the platform. And imagining ads up next to some of those weird videos is hard to think about. Former Time Warner executive Doug Shapiro called a lot of the content content on their quote, low quality, the S word crap and garbage. But it turns out, you know, audiences aren't watching random videos on the platform. They're watching the most popular creators. They're watching the stuff that people are finding compelling and the creators that they're finding compelling. And that has made a difference. We're now kind of seeing a change in two ways because the audience is meeting these creators where they are, but now the creators are kind of meeting the audience where they are. Alan Chicken Chow went from shorts to full length sitcom episodes with a show called Allen's Universe that racks up tens of millions of views. Dhar Mann runs one of YouTube's biggest scripted production studios with weekly half hour moral lessons for Gen Z. And Chow's budget is $120,000 per episod. Of course, that's versus $20 million for high end cable shows. Despite that, his episodes pull in hundreds of millions of views, even though it costs so much less. Alan Chicken Chow says there is no Disney Channel anymore as we used to know it. The 7 to 14 year olds that used to Watch Disney channel now watch YouTube. And so with that, YouTube has redesigned its platform for TV use, including continuous playb, longer videos, better ad formatting. And in April, YouTube accounted for more than 12% of US TV viewership. That's more than all of Disney's TV and streaming combined. 40% of that viewership came from the 18 to 49 demographic, which of course, excuse me, has advertisers salivating like I was just then, apparently. So I guess I'm an advertiser. I don't know. I'll have to check on that. But yeah. Dan, I remember recently being over at. Actually it was at the end of this past year or at the beginning of this past year over at a friend's house and they had turned on, on their smart TV, the YouTube app, and they were playing music that, you know, that they wanted to listen to. But when they were done, when the song was over, then you had to go in and with the remote, type in the name of another song and search for it and then play it. And I'm like, what world is this? I don't understand. There's so much friction. I could just pull up Spotify or my case, Apple Music, and we could connect it to a Bluetooth speaker. No, it's a whole. It's just a different. I apparently am not in that 18 to 49 because what is going on? I guess I am. I. It's, it's a good thing in some ways that I'm around people who are, you know, five to 10 years younger than me with some regular, relative, regular occurrence so that I am able to see kind of how this stuff plays out. But I wanted to hear your take on it because the fact is it doesn't always, it's not always the case that it is that Gen Z viewership, right? I mean, this says 18 to 40 something demographic. So are you, are you watching YouTube on your 1080p TV?

[Dan Morin]

I'm glad that you brought me in here. As I'm noted, you know, young, Young whisperer that, like, that's my. Clearly, I'm representing the youth demographic here in a way that you simply can't. I'm sorry, Maika, you're just, you're just too old.

[Micah Sargent]

I don't get it.

[Dan Morin]

Look, nothing makes me feel like I'm going to crumble into dust faster than hearing the names of YouTube influencers because I just don't, I don't understand. I think what's kind of interesting about this, to me, what it says is it is definitely replaced, certainly A style of TV watching that I think was more prevalent when we were younger, which was the old. There's 500 channels and nothing on, kind of feeling, right, you. I certainly remember going to people's houses, you know, friends houses in high school and whatever, and TV would just be on. It would just be on in the background. Right. And it didn't matter. Or you'd be channel surfing. Right. And flipping through and just trying to find something to watch. The TV itself was kind of a, you know, background that was wallpaper. And I think YouTube has. Has largely replaced that. Young, the younger, younger demographics. I don't think anybody these days is sitting around channel surfing on a TV, you know, who's between those ages of 18 and 49 very much. I think you see a lot more people click around on YouTube and, you know, it's a different model. Right. It's on demand in a way that it wasn't when linear television programming was the order of the day. And certainly, like you said, there's a lot of stuff capitalizing on the fact that there's so much attention that you can sort of garner much more ability. Things like scripted shows or do other sort of things. I don't think it necessarily is capturing certain parts of the market. I would be curious too about, like, you know, demographically, the. Not just the ad sales, but the sort of purchasing power. Right. That's the thing you look at a lot in, like, prestige television is some of the people who tend to watch that large. Large chunks of that could be people with a lot more purchasing power, a lot more likelihood to be, you know, certain types of customers buying certain types of stuff. So I think, you know, it doesn't necessarily replace all of television, even though the numbers are very high, in the same way that when people were watching HBO in the 2000s, it didn't replace people like channel surfing anyway. Yeah. So I think it's kind of. It does seem to replace the linear TV market. I think that's what's dying. And, you know, you look at the. I look at, like, broadcast network slates, not infrequently, because I'm kind of curious about the state of TV these days. And scripted shows have basically been, you know, if not dead on linear tv, extremely reduced. Right. Everything goes to streaming now first. So the. The right TV itself has changed wildly in the last couple decades. And I think YouTube is certainly just a part of that. And I agree. It's. It's like you said, it. It does seem to be changed because of the fact that the, the world has changed. It starts with the younger folks who are just more acclimated to that kind of thing. Like, I know I have a, you know, an almost three year old, he does not watch unfettered video content on anything. But the, the prime thing we watch with him is like, he likes watching trains. So we go to YouTube and find videos of trains like, and I think that's how kids are, are just used to consuming content these days. And so it's natural that when they start making their own choices about things when they get older, that YouTube ends up being sort of the way they gravitate rather than let me just turn on the tv.

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I wanted to mention too, ad revenue grew from 2019, where it was at $15 billion to $36 billion in 2024, which means that YouTube makes more from ads than all four of those broadcast networks combined. And creators are still making less per viewer than network shows, given that they split 45% of the revenue with YouTube. But there's kind of been an interesting response from Hollywood in a way, because it's streaming slash Hollywood. Netflix CEO Ted Saranda said YouTube is where people kill time. Netflix is where people spend time. And then YouTube has been working toward getting Emmys for the different shows that, that it. That exist on the platform. And I think a big thing we've seen is a lot of creators building out kind of huge empires thanks to the sort of platform that they have developed on YouTube. It is an interesting difference between sort of classic network content and the way that the. Because you don't see. Netflix is not a place where individual creators, so to speak, are able to put their stuff.

[Dan Morin]

Right, right.

[Micah Sargent]

And that makes a difference. And you're not going to see on NBC or ABC or something like that, the same. So it's a wholly different kind of market. But to be able to make the money that is able to be made on these platforms is, or on this platform in particular is kind of wild. I, I wonder how we're going to see these, these classic companies working. You know, classic production companies working toward making adjustments in, in light of this.

[Dan Morin]

I think the evolution of it is potentially interesting too, right. When you see some of these people get very popular and maybe not like, you know, insanely like top 10 influencers on YouTube popular, but like somewhere below that, right. People are racking up a bunch of views. Do they choose to stick with YouTube as a platform, as some of the people here have done, or do they, you know, go on to make more lucrative deals with traditional studios and development companies. Right. Like, one of the examples in this article was Quinta Brunson, who did like basically a season, quote unquote, of a show on YouTube before becoming super popular. And she created Abbott elementary and like went on to a more traditional, you know, role. And, and some of it may be security too, right? Like if you are somebody who, who kind of lives and dies by views and advertising rather than having a, a partnership with YouTube, then it's certainly more attractive for you to go to a studio that's going to be willing to pay you maybe up front or a share of, you know, proceeds or something like that. A more traditional deal than it is to rely on. Well, what if I suddenly become unpopular? So I think there's a job security angle as well. And though we talk about the democratization of it and the idea that like, if you're popular you can do a lot, it doesn't really deal with the idea that like, that may not be sustainable for everybody because what happens in 20 minutes when somebody else comes along and they're more popular?

[Micah Sargent]

Yeah, that's a, that's a good point. Well, we are. It's about that time to say goodbye. Dan Moore and I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Day before you head out, would you like to remind everybody where they can find the great work that you are doing?

[Dan Morin]

Absolutely. You can find everything I write about tech [e-mail] and if you want to hear my podcasts, I do a show called the Rebound every week and I do a show with Micah called Clockwise over on Relay fm. And if you want to write, read my books, of which I've published many. You can find all about that and everything else I [e-mail] Beautiful.

[Micah Sargent]

Thank you, Dan. We'll see you soon.

[Dan Morin]

Bye.

[Micah Sargent]

All righty, folks, we're going to take another quick break before we come back with the next story. This episode of Tech News Weekly is brought to you by Material, the multilayered detection and response toolkit for email. Your cloud office isn't just another app. You have to stop thinking of it that way. It is the heart of your business. Traditional security tools leave you vulnerable, treating email and documents as afterthoughts while your most critical assets remain exposed. Material transforms cloud workspace protection with a revolutionary approach that goes beyond traditional security paradigms. You get dedicated security for modern workspaces which ensure that purpose built protection specifically designed for Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 is available to you you get complete protection across the security life cycle, which means defending your organization before, during, and after those potential incidents, not just attempting to prevent them. 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From automatic threat investigation to custom detection workflows, Material converts manual security tasks into streamlined, intelligent processes. They provide visibility across your entire digital workspace, allowing security professionals to focus on strategic initiatives instead of endless alert triage. So protect your digital workspace, empower your team, and secure your future with material. Visit Material Security to learn more and book a demo. That's Material Security. Our thanks to Material for sponsoring this week's episode of Tech News Weekly. All right, we are back from the break and I was hoping to get the researchers on the show today for this really interesting meta analysis. And so I want to talk about it with you all, despite the fact they weren't able to get them on, because I think that this is just absolutely fascinating. Anytime a research piece comes up that makes you go, oh really? There's always an opportunity to get to talk about it. So first and foremost, let me explain if you. I know many of you are probably familiar with studies, you know, a research study where researchers get together and they work on trying to figure out a question they have the hypothesis right. Well, a meta analysis is a bit different and that's what this is. This study is what is actually called a meta analysis. And with meta analyses, what one does or what the researchers do is they collect a bunch of different studies all focused on the same thing or all including data on which they're focused, and combine that together to try to get an understanding of what's going on. So a lot of times what happens is in different countries and in different locations, there will be these longevity studies. These are studies that kind of follow people over the course of their lives and during that time it will look at so many different factors about the person and then researchers can pull from these larger studies specific data points and look at how the data kind of lines up based on a given topic. And so with this piece, we are talking about the use of technology and its effect on cognitive aging. This was done by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University. And it looked at how, yeah, age is affected, or rather cognitive aging is affected by technology use. So the first generation to grow old with smartphones, laptops and Internet access is showing a surprising trend. Older adults who regularly engage with digital technologies tend to have better cognitive outcomes. A massive new meta analysis that covers more than 400,000 people published in the journal Nature, found that technology use was not only not harmful to aging brains, but instead was associated with a significantly lower risk of cognitive decline. Now, far from fueling digital dementia, as we've heard about, everyday tech use may actually help preserve memory, attention and independence in older age. So overall, the researchers looked at 136 studies. 57 were included in the meta analysis. So again, you look at these multiple studies, you find the ones that have the information, the data that you, you need, and then you take those and combine them. What does that mean? 411,430 adults, average age of 69 and a little more than half female were part of this, this meta analysis. And digital engagement was broadly defined as the use of computers, smartphones, the Internet, et cetera. As far as what they discovered, technology engagement was associated with reduced odds of cognitive decline in middle aged and older adults. And the statistical significance was there. And by that I mean at any time in a research study you can do a certain set of calculations that determine whether there's a significance statistically to the outcome of the data or if it's just kind of random. And in this case the statistical significance was rather high. So what do they kind of look at? Well, there were kind of two hypotheses. One was that long term tech use weakens cognition. That's the digital dementia hypothesis. And then there's the technological reserve hypothesis that tech engagement strengthens or preserves cognitive function. So which one is is accurate? And according to the researchers, there was no credible evidence for widespread digital brain drain. Now the there were some effects that remained after they kind of controlled for socioeconomic status, health conditions, education, cognitive reserve proxies, so mental stimulation from reading puzzles, etc. So the technology cognition association is unlikely to be explained solely by non causal factors. What does that mean? It means that in this, they looked at many of the common reasons why someone's brain or Their cognitive age might be affected and tried to control for those. So meaning that those were sort of kept the same across the entire group of individuals that they looked at in order to make it possible for only this one variable to be the change between the different groups. And then, of course, there's a question. Okay, so we, we look at it, and there seems to be statistically significant trend between cognitive aging and the use of technology in a positive way. So how is it possible that tech can help with the brain? Well, here are the three proposed mechanisms for this technological reserve, as they call it. First, cognitively complex stimulation. In the piece, they talk about how digital tasks add layers of complexity from troubleshooting to filtering distractions, which may increase mental engagement. And that, of course, means that in this case, you are not just dealing with a simple task that you may do over and over and over and over again, but instead you are challenging your brain because you have a tech device in front of you. And because tech is the way that it is and it does what it does. That means, hello, we are going to run into tech issues. And when a person solves for those tech issues, they are troubleshooting and therefore challenging their brain. Increasing, increasing mental engagement. And then on top of that, because we know that these devices are bing, bing, ding, ding, ding, ding, sending us messages and notifications all the time, actively having your brain filter distractions is another way that increases mental engagement. If you've been listening to me for a long time, you know, I love to go to the, the evolutionary aspect of it all and our time, our much longer time as a species of hunter gatherers and how important it is for us to challenge our brains in the way that our brains were challenged for hundreds of thousands of years. And that means filtering distractions is a huge aspect of what our brains were designed to do. To not be distracted by the sound of the wind rustling in the, the, you know, the, the nearby grass, but instead focused on the animal that we are hunting that we are trying to get so that our whole tribe is able to eat. That is what our brains were designed to do. Well, that's what our brains ended up being designed to do. And because of that, working toward continuing to have that is very important, the next mechanism for the technological reserve. Again, this is all hypothesized is social connection, which doesn't surprise me at all. I imagine it doesn't surprise many of you at all. One study found the cognitive benefits of Internet use were strongest in older adults who lived alone. So the idea there, again, if you're controlling for everything else. If, if everyone has relatively same education, has or doesn't have the same diseases, has or doesn't have the same access, et cetera, et cetera, and you're only looking at this, then if the adult lived alone but had more access to and more engagement with Internet use, then they were more likely to have social connection. And we know that that is an aspect, a huge aspect, and a very important aspect of preventing cognitive decline. It's one of the main reasons why things like hearing aids are so important for people who are losing their hearing over time, because you stop engaging as much, and when you stop engaging with others as much, the cognitive decline rises and rises and rises, so or raises. And so it is important that you're, you know, proposing that it's important that social connection is an aspect of this. And again, not surprised. I would say, as an aside, it's unfortunate that sometimes the social connection that takes place on the Internet is scamming in nature. But if they are able to connect with loved ones, that is obviously a very positive thing. And then last but not least, something they call digital scaffolding. Technology use could promote compensatory behaviors, allowing individuals to remain in independent longer. So where they would maybe normally not be able to do things on their own, grocery shop, you know, get things that they need delivered to their home, or, you know, go out and get things, but now they can have it delivered to the home. Now that they can do these things on their own, perhaps because of the accessibility options that are available to individuals, being able to, you know, go to a website, pay their bill, whatever it happens to be, all of these things result in someone being able to remain independent longer. And the idea there is that when you are independent, you are striving toward continuing on and doing things that need to be done. Therefore, you are challenging your brain. You are not sort of giving up that challenge and letting other people take care of it for you. So, yes, you're not going to the grocery store yourself. You're not getting up to go to the grocery store yourself, but you are still, you know, looking through, choosing the groceries that you need, having them delivered, and again, all of the other challenges that you have at home or independent that you would not necessarily have if you lived somewhere that, you know, provided those things for you. Now, it's important to understand that despite all of this, the researchers posit that not all of the tech use is equal. These they talk about how social media had mixed results. Three studies that they looked at showed inconsistent findings for older adults on these social media aspect and one study noted that moderate Internet usage was associated with better outcomes, but excessive usage trended toward worse outcomes. Now again, that is one study, not the entirety of the studies that they did. But that's something to keep in mind that social media use as part of this may or may not have an impact, positive or negative. Most of the studies, it's important to note were from high income countries. That's something that is a little harder to control for because of the fact that higher income countries have more resources and therefore can do these kind of studies that these researchers are able to pull from. And so the question remains, will these benefits hold for people who grew up with tech, not just those who adopted it later in life? And what effect does the sort of income of the country have on one's ability to access technology and therefore impact one's cognitive age? Now, along with all of this, they looked at the kind of other findings. So contextualizing it with known dementia risks, they compared tech's protect protective effect to education, to physical activity, to blood pressure reduction. So how does education, how does physical activity and how does blood pressure reduction have an impact on dementia? Because we know that those are known dementia risks. That lack of education, that lack of physical activity and poor blood pressure all do have an impact on or have been shown to have an impact on dementia risks. And they found, quote, the strength of association was similar to or greater than many of these well known protective factors. So according to this meta analysis of of more than 400,000 adults, tech use had a similar or greater association of strength, meaning a positive trend in this case as education as physical activity and as the reduction in blood pressure. That's pretty powerful. So go check out the study again, published in Nature Human Behavior just recently, and you can learn a little bit more about the way that they did this study or this meta analysis and everything that was involved therein. All right, we're going to take another quick break before we come back with the final story of the week. It is rather wild, so strap in for that. Up next. But first, let me tell you about Hawkshun, who's bringing you this episode of Tech News Weekly. As a security leader, I'm talking to you. You get paid to protect your company against cyber attacks, but it's getting harder with more cyber attacks than ever and phishing emails generated with AI legacy one size fits all awareness programs, they don't really stand a chance. They Send at most 4 generic trainings per year and most employees ignore them when Somebody actually clicks, they're forced into embarrassing training programs that feel more like punishment. And that's why more and more organizations are trying HOX Hunt. See, HOX Hunt goes beyond security awareness and changes behaviors by rewarding good clicks and coaching away the bad. Whenever an employee suspects an email might be a scam, hawkshunt will tell them instantly providing that dopamine rush that gets you people to click, learn and protect your company. It was super cool talking to HOX Hunt because we got to learn about the work that they do toward improving the the sort of security knowledge of employees and hearing about the way that they've kind of gamified this for individuals and how people end up doing so well that they ask to be challenged even more and kind of go to the next level. And they sort of wear this as a badge of pride that oh yeah, Hawks Hunt wasn't able to fool me here. It wasn't able to fool me here. Super cool. And honestly, it made me go, can I please give this. You got to challenge me. I got to know if I'm, if I'm where I think I am. As an admin, Hawkshunt makes it easy to automatically deliver phishing simulations across email slack teams using AI to mimic the latest real world attacks. Simulations are personalized to each employee based on department location and more. While instant micro trainings solidify understanding and drive lasting success, you can trigger gamified security awareness training that rewards employees with stars and badges, boosting completion rates and ensuring compliance. You can choose from a huge library of customizable training packages or generate your own with AI. Haxhunt has everything you need to run effective security training in one platform, meaning it's easy to measurably reduce your human cyber risk at scale. But hey, don't take my word for it. More than three things User reviews on G2 make Hoxhunt the top rated security training platform for the enterprise, including easiest to use and best results. It's also recognized as customers choice by Gartner and thousands of companies like Qualcomm, AES and Nokia use it to train millions of employees all over the globe. So visit hoxhunt.comsecurity now today to learn why modern secure companies are making the switch to Hawkshunt. That's hawkshunt.com security now. Alrighty, let's head back to the show to round out things with our final topic. Now, as I mentioned, it was time to strap in for this story because it is, I think, quite the doozy. What looked like a side Hustle. For Christina Chapman, managing dozens of laptops from her home turned out to be a gateway for North Korean tech workers to. To infiltrate the US Job market. Through a sprawling scheme involving fake identities, remote access software, and everyday citizens as unwitting accomplices, North Korea has funneled millions of dollars out of American companies and into its sanctioned economy. The scam reveals the vulnerabilities of modern remote work and how easily they can be exploited on a global scale. This is from the Wall street journals, Robert McMillan and Dustin Voles, who have written about how North Korea is using remote job works work to be able to get money into its economy. So many of you, I'm sure, are aware that sanctions are one of the main ways that we sort of diplomatically can have an impact on a country and have it do the things that we want it to do. And North Korea, given its behavior at all times, is a heavily sanctioned country. And so there's not a whole lot of money coming into the country and hard for the company country, rather, to make money. So there are different ways that the country works to do that, including having North Koreans work in the US Job market and get money. But how do they do that if you aren't allowed to hire someone from North Korea? Well, here's how. There's a special setup called a laptop farm. One of those was in suburban Arizona. Chapman, who I mentioned earlier, filled her home with laptops, accepting deliveries, installing remote access tools, and managing tech support. Also, North Korean workers abroad could remotely access these US jobs. In a TikTok video, she said, my clients are going crazy. As she had more than 10 laptops visible in the background. She'd help send their falsified W2 tax forms. She'd unpack the laptop. She'd install this remote access software and then power them on for the North Korean workers to log on. And so essentially, there would just be these huge shelves that had all these laptops sitting on them. Her job was to accept delivery of all of this stuff and set it up, get it going, and then just kind of let it go in the background. And then she would occasionally be, you know, messaged to follow up whenever that needed to be and then need to further go in and make. Make different transitions and transfers of money and documents. And this is not just one place in rural Arizona. No. The FBI estimates that North Korean workers have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars annually into the DPRK economy. Using this method, North Koreans have stolen over $6 billion in cryptocurrency. This is according to chain analysis and they use this cryptocurrency as a big part of their economy. CrowdStrike has found 150 plus cases of North Korean remote workers inside corporate networks, often hired through staffing agencies. They quote, these DPRK IT workers are absolutely able to hold down jobs that pay in the low six figures and sometimes they can hold multiple of these jobs, says the FBI section chief Gregory Austin. So you can imagine that multiple people working multiple jobs, having all that money filtered into the economy. So how do they go about recovery, recruiting Americans? How does an American go? You know what would be a great idea? I think that I should just go ahead and hear from someone and do all of these things. The North Koreans blanket job platforms like LinkedIn and Upwork with offers targeting people in financial distress. Turns out Chapman had completed a coding boot camp but was living in a trailer with no heat or plumbing when she received a LinkedIn message offering work missions to Mars.

[Christina Chapman]

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[Micah Sargent]

She said in a video in 2021 on TikTok. I live in a travel trailer. I don't have running water and now I don't have heat. I'm really scared. I don't know what to do. So again, looking for the people who are the most vulnerable. And having completed a coding boot camp, they knew that she could at the very least set up a computer and add a remote access system to involves elaborate deceptions and espionage risks. So some Americans are paid to pass liveness checks or conduct job interviews on behalf of North Koreans. So first and foremost, because there's kind of different scales and levels, right? Maybe your job is to just get this set up and that's all you have to do. Some actually have to go as far as getting paid more to do these liveness checks. So going over to the computer and, you know, appearing in front of a webcam, something like that. Some are even doing these job interviews on behalf of the the, the person who is actually going to be working the job and then later on that person goes to work the job. Of course, AI tools have been used to fake video during interviews, but unfortunately for the people involved in this, recruiters learned to ask candidates to wave their hands. And when it comes to this AI software, it glitches it out. So we of course talked. Just recently I had a story of the week all about how AI tools are being used for deep fakes for job interviews. That's kind of where this is really having an impact. Once hired, then the workers will sometimes exfiltrate sensitive data. So it's not always the case that they just work the job. In some cases it's about more than that. It's about espionage. Ryan Goldberg of Signia discovered seven stealth programs installed by a North Korean worker and said they really thought outside of the box on this. Yeah, you're telling me so. Yeah. Not in every case is it just getting money that then goes into the sanctioned country, but in some cases is about getting that data for whatever purpose that might be. And then we have to talk about the consequences for the people involved. These victims of identity theft. So of course they're having to use stolen identities in order to get these jobs are often hit with unexpected tax bills. They get in trouble because it looks like they're earning in the low six figures. Chapman's farm alone created false tax liabilities for more than 35Americans. Companies unknowingly hired North Korean workers at major corporations, including a TV network, an aerospace firm, and a Silicon Valley tech company. That last one doesn't surprise me so much as the aerospace firm. And you may be wondering about Chapman's fate. Well, first and foremost, over the course of time that Chapman ran this farm, Chapman earned just under $177,000. So not a whole lot of money for the huge amount of money that she made for these workers and, you know, involved, especially with the risk of doing so. As you might imagine, Chapman was charged with wire fraud, identity theft, and Monday, Monday laundering, money laundering, and Chapman pleaded guilty. She now lives in a homeless shelter in Phoenix and has sentencing set for July 16th. In her final TikTok post. Yes, she's still posting to TikTok. She said, I will be back soon. It's been a hell of a roller coaster. Go read that WSJ piece, which has a lot more info, not just about Chapman, but about this entire situation as a whole. But I just thought, holy moly, that is wild that that North Korea and other countries of course, have figured out how to go about doing this. And I think be mindful on on LinkedIn is a huge thing to keep in mind. You never know. You know who's actually contacting you, what their goals are. So just bear that in mind, folks. That is going to bring us to the end of this episode of Tech News Weekly. The show publishes every Thursday at TWiT TV TNW. That is where you go to subscribe to the show in all of its formats. If you are not currently a member of Club Twit, might I invite you to join the Club Twit tv. Club Twit is where you go. We have monthly and yearly plans and we'd love to have you. When you join the club, you gain access to some pretty awesome benefits, first and foremost. Oh, and I should, I should mention our rates are going to increase on June 1st. So if you want to lock in that $7 per month, $84 per year plan before it goes to $10, then now's the time to join Twitter TV club TWiT. You will gain access to every single one of our shows ad free. You'll gain access to the members only video feeds so those are ad free video versions of all of our shows. You'll gain access to the Twit plus bonus feed that is extra stuff you won't find anywhere else behind the scenes before the show. After the show, Special Club Twitter events get published there and access to the members only Discord Server. A fun place to go to chat with your fellow Club Twitt members and those of us here at Twits. Also the only place to access our live coverage of the different tech press events. So you may have seen Leo covering Google IO. You will be seeing Leo and I cover or Leo and me cover WWDC and the platform State of the Union soon. So that's all very exciting. Again, Twitter TV Club Twit to sign up and we can't wait to see you in the club. If you'd like to follow me online, I'm ichasargent on many a social media network. Or you can head to Chihuahua Coffee that's C H I H U A H U a Coffee where I've got links to the places I'm most active online. But it is time for me to say goodbye for now. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll catch you again next week for another episode of Tech News Weekly. Bye bye.

[Unknown]

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