North Korean hackers, organization sanctioned over illicit cyber activities

CyberScoop reports that South Korea has moved to impose economic sanctions against 15 North Koreans allegedly part of the country’s Ministry of Munitions Industry and the Chosun Geumjeong Economic Information Technology Exchange Corporation over their roles in the global fake IT worker scheme that facilitated widespread cryptocurrency exfiltration and other cyberattacks meant to support North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

Such fraudulent IT workers “are known to be dispatched to China, Russia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and other countries as employees of regime-affiliated organizations such as the Ministry of Defense, disguising their identities and receiving work from IT companies around the world, while some are also known to be involved in information theft and cyberattacks,” said South Korea’s Peninsula Policy Bureau in a translated press release.

The development comes after nearly 60 North Korean cyberattacks against cryptocurrency firms from 2017 to 2023 were confirmed to being investigated by a United Nations panel.