N. KOREAN HACKERS INDICTED

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Not so long ago we reported about North Korea hacking a manufacturer of a COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. Justice Department has indicted three North Korean hackers for stealing and extorting 1.3 billion dollars in cryptocurrency.

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​The U.S. Justice Department indicted three North Korean programmers involved in a money-laundering scheme. The DOJ is accusing the trio of committing destructive cyberattacks on banks and companies to steal and extort 1.3 billion dollars in cryptocurrencies. A Canadian-American citizen who helped the hackers agreed to plead guilty. According to the Department's document, North Korea stole virtual money by hacking financial institutions to obtain a large sum of U.S. currency. The indicted programmers are Park Jin-hyok, Jon Chang-hyok and Kim Il. They work for the regime's Reconnaissance General Bureau, which shows how deeply the North's military intel authorities are involved in cyber crimes. The U.S. Justice Department believes Park Jin-hyok is also responsible for many other cyber crimes including the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures and banks in Vietnam. According to the DOJ, the North Korean hackers created malicious codes to destroy financial systems and tried to expand their operations using blockchains. The department's document was initially drawn late last year and was supplemented recently, before its disclosure.