North Korea, ruled by third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un, has been accused by US and UN officials of orchestrating an escalating campaign of cyber theft to fund its activities, including the development of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons. “The FBI will continue to expose and combat the DPRK’s use of illicit activities - including cybercrime and virtual currency theft - to generate revenue for the regime,” the FBI said, referring to the acronym of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The FBI said it would keep working to “identify and disrupt” efforts to steal and launder cryptocurrency that support the secretive state’s illicit missile and nuclear weapons programmes. The FBI, which previously issued an advisory about a malware campaign used in the heist dubbed “TraderTraitor”, said it had frozen some of the funds with the cooperation of some of the virtual asset service providers. Harmony, which has its headquarters in California, announced in June that hackers had stolen $100m in digital coins from Horizon bridge, a so-called blockchain bridge used to move cryptocurrencies between different blockchain networks. North Korean cyber actors earlier this month used privacy protocol Railgun to launder more than $60m worth of Ethereum stolen during the heist, a portion of which was sent to several virtual asset service providers and converted to Bitcoin, the FBI said. Brian E.Keep reading list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Crypto lender Genesis optimistic it can resolve creditor disputes list 2 of 4 US arrests Russian crypto boss who ‘catered to known crooks’ list 3 of 4 New FTX boss says bankrupt crypto exchange could restart: Report list 4 of 4 Crypto giant Genesis files for bankruptcy, after FTX collapse end of list The United States and our partners are committed to safeguarding the international financial system and preventing its use in the DPRK’s destabilizing activities, especially in light of the DPRK’s three launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) this year alone. The DPRK’s use of illicit facilitation networks to access the international financial system and generate revenue using virtual currency for the regime’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction(WMD) and ballistic missile programs directly threatens international security. In the press release, the Treasury also highlighted North Korea’s long-standing efforts to evade sanctions and infiltrate the global financial markets using digital assets. They have, among other allegations, helped the Lazarus Group convert stolen cryptocurrency in order to support DPRK’s weapons program, including the development of WMDs. The three persons, Wu Huihui, Cheng Hung Man, and Sim Hyon Sop, are accused of either directly supporting the hacker organization, or supporting one another in related illicit activities. In a Monday press release, the US Treasury announced it had sanctioned three individuals for supporting the activities of the North Korean Lazarus Group. It has been involved in numerous cyber attacks and has become notorious in the crypto community for orchestrating some of the biggest digital assets hacks to date. The Lazarus Group is a notorious hacking organization considered to be controlled by DPRK’s Reconnaissance General Bureau.

On Monday, April 24th, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it has placed sanctions on three individuals for supporting the North Korean Lazarus Group.

Dprk lazarus group