Nicole Perlroth

Nicole Perlroth is recognized for her expertise in cybersecurity, having spent more than a decade as the lead cybersecurity, digital espionage, and sabotage reporter for The New York Times. Her investigative reporting covered Russian cyber intrusions into nuclear plants, airports, elections, and petrochemical facilities; North Korea's cyberattacks on movie studios, banks, and hospitals; Iranian operations targeting oil companies, banks, critical infrastructure, and presidential campaigns; and extensive Chinese cyberattacks on critical U.S. infrastructure and businesses, including a prolonged breach of The New York Times. Perlroth's work exposing hacking divisions within China's People's Liberation Army contributed to the first U.S. hacking charges against Chinese military members and earned her the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Her investigation with Azam Ahmed into commercial spyware use in Mexico was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Perlroth authored the book "This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends," which examines the cyber arms trade and the evolving landscape of global cyber warfare. The New York Times bestseller received the FT McKinsey Best Business Book of the Year Award, the Arthur J. Ross Award for Foreign Policy, and was inducted into the Cybersecurity Canon Hall of Fame. The book was optioned for both scripted television and documentary film. Perlroth's reporting contributed to U.S. government indictments of state-sponsored hackers and the exposure and blacklisting of multiple spyware companies.

After her journalism career, Perlroth joined the advisory committee of the Homeland Security Department's cybersecurity defense agency, CISA, and participated in the Council on Foreign Relations' Cyber Task Force, where she contributed to the development of U.S. cyber foreign policy. She is a founding partner of Silver Buckshot Ventures, a cyber mission fund, and a venture partner at Ballistic Ventures, a cybersecurity venture firm. Perlroth advises several cybersecurity startups and educates Fortune 500 boards on cyber risk management.

Perlroth has expanded her cybersecurity storytelling through her podcast series, including the documentary podcast "To Catch a Thief: North Koreans On Our Payroll," which investigates North Korea's global labor pipeline and its financial support for the regime's nuclear weapons program. The series follows a previous season focused on Chinese hacking, which ranked among the top five Apple documentary podcasts. The podcast received a Tribeca X Award.

Perlroth's work has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Economist, Wired, Forbes, CNN, PBS, NPR, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC's Meet The Press, and MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. She has delivered keynotes for TED, the State Department, the World Bank, the Munich Security Conference, RSA, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Perlroth has lectured at Princeton University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard Kennedy School, the Naval War College, and the University of California, Berkeley, and served as the inaugural Journalist in Residence for the University of Texas Strauss Center's Journalism and World Affairs program. A graduate of Princeton University and Stanford University, Perlroth continues to contribute to discussions on technology, national security, and global conflict.