The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged three North Korean pc programmers with theft and extortion on varied allegations, together with stealing over $100 million in cryptocurrencies between 2017 and 2020.
The thefts are a part of a broader conspiracy that noticed the alleged hackers steal over $1.3 billion, the DOJ introduced Wednesday. In a second case, a Canadian-American was charged with taking part in a cash laundering scheme.
Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyok have been charged with felony hacking and different crimes, and are allegedly part of the Lazarus Group, in accordance with a press launch. The three have been allegedly behind the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was seen as a retaliatory transfer for producing The Interview, a comedy movie in regards to the assassination of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un.
“The indictment describes a broad array of felony cyber actions undertaken by the conspiracy, within the United States and overseas, performed for revenge or monetary acquire. The schemes alleged embrace: … Targeting of tons of of cryptocurrency firms and the theft of tens of tens of millions of {dollars}’ price of cryptocurrency, together with $75 million from a Slovenian cryptocurrency firm in December 2017; $24.9 million from an Indonesian cryptocurrency firm in September 2018; and $11.eight million from a monetary providers firm in New York in August 2020 through which the hackers used the malicious CryptoNeuro Trader software as a backdoor,” the press launch stated.
