Lazarus group free#

“We will not allow North Korea to undermine global cybersecurity to advance its interests and generate illicit revenues in violation of our sanctions,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. We will continue to pursue justice for those responsible for the huge monetary losses and attempting to compromise the national security of the United States.” These charges send a message that we will track down malicious actors no matter how or where they hide. They traced the attacks back to the source and mapped their commonalities, including similarities among the various programs used to infect networks across the globe. “The scope of this scheme was exposed through the diligent efforts of FBI agents and federal prosecutors who were able to unmask these sophisticated crimes through sophisticated means. “The complaint charges members of this North Korean-based conspiracy with being responsible for cyberattacks that caused unprecedented economic damage and disruption to businesses in the United States and around the globe,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Wilkison. The investigation, prosecution, and other disruption of malicious state-sponsored cyber activity remains among the highest priorities of the National Security Division and I thank the FBI agents, DOJ prosecutors, and international partners who have put years of effort into this investigation.”

Lazarus group free#

“The Complaint alleges that the North Korean government, through a state-sponsored group, robbed a central bank and citizens of other nations, retaliated against free speech in order to chill it half a world away, and created disruptive malware that indiscriminately affected victims in more than 150 other countries, causing hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars’ worth of damage. “The scale and scope of the cyber-crimes alleged by the Complaint is staggering and offensive to all who respect the rule of law and the cyber norms accepted by responsible nations,” said Assistant Attorney General Demers. We’ll continue to identify and illuminate those responsible for malicious cyberattacks and intrusions, no matter who or where they are.” This group’s actions are particularly egregious as they targeted public and private industries worldwide – stealing millions of dollars, threatening to suppress free speech, and crippling hospital systems.

“We stand with our partners to name the North Korean government as the force behind this destructive global cyber campaign.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates the FBI’s unceasing commitment to unmasking and stopping the malicious actors and countries behind the world’s cyberattacks,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

In addition to these criminal charges, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced today that the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Park and KEJV under Executive Order 13722 based on the malicious cyber and cyber-enabled activity outlined in the criminal complaint. Delacourt of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. Demers, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California Tracy Wilkison and Assistant Director in Charge Paul D. Wray, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. The charges were announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Christopher A. The Conspiracy’s malicious activities include the creation of the malware used in the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 global ransomware attack the 2016 theft of $81 million from Bangladesh Bank the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and numerous other attacks or intrusions on the entertainment, financial services, defense, technology, and virtual currency industries, academia, and electric utilities. The complaint alleges that Park was a member of a government-sponsored hacking team known to the private sector as the “Lazarus Group,” and worked for a North Korean government front company, Chosun Expo Joint Venture (a/k/a Korea Expo Joint Venture or “KEJV”), to support the DPRK government’s malicious cyber actions. A criminal complaint was unsealed today charging Park Jin Hyok (박진혁 a/k/a Jin Hyok Park and Pak Jin Hek), a North Korean citizen, for his involvement in a conspiracy to conduct multiple destructive cyberattacks around the world resulting in damage to massive amounts of computer hardware, and the extensive loss of data, money and other resources (the “Conspiracy”).