Washington Imposes Sanctions Against DPRK Hackers
- 9.07.2025, 7:48
They went undercover in the United States.
Thousands of North Korean IT professionals posed as Americans, staged cyberattacks on companies and funded Kim Jong-un's army.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
The United States has imposed sanctions against a number of individuals and companies linked to a massive scheme that involved recruiting North Korean citizens to work under the guise of U.S. IT specialists to fund Kim Jong Un's regime.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed restrictive measures against North Korean national Son Kum Hyok, described as a "malicious cybercriminal," as well as another citizen and four companies registered in Russia and North Korea. According to the agency, Son has ties to a hacking group acting for the North Korean government.
According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Hyok allegedly coordinated a scheme in which IT professionals from the DPRK, as well as individuals based in China and Russia, obtained false U.S. identities. This often happened based on the stolen identities of U.S. citizens and was used for remote employment with U.S. companies as well as to fund North Korean regime activities.
"These workers used a variety of public and industry-specific platforms for freelancing, payments, social media, and professional communication," the Treasury Department said in a statement. In some cases, these individuals injected malware into companies' computer networks.
According to the U.S. government, thousands of North Korean professionals posed as citizens of other nations to infiltrate companies not only in the United States but around the world.
In June, the U.S. Justice Department announced the arrest of one suspect and the filing of charges against nine individuals who likely participated in the scheme.
In a separate statement, the U.S. State Department said it announced a reward of up to $5 million for information that would stop funding for individuals involved in supporting DPRK activities.
A reward of up to $10 million has also been announced for assistance in identifying and locating individuals involved in cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States.