Dong-A Ilbo reported that South Korean intelligence assessed North Korea's cyber-crime workforce at roughly 8,400 personnel, an estimated 20 percent increase from the 6,800 figure previously reflected in defense white papers. The article says North Korea is conducting joint research and education with Russia on hacking technologies, including malware development, raising concern about transfer of advanced Russian techniques. It also reports that North Korean leadership is prioritizing hacker recruitment and incentives as cyber theft, IT worker schemes, and backdoored software development are used to obtain money and technology.