The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged three North Korean computer programmers with theft and extortion on various allegations, including stealing over $100 million in cryptocurrencies between 2017 and 2020.
The thefts are part of a broader conspiracy in which the alleged hackers steal over $1.3 billion, the DOJ announced Wednesday. In a related second case, a Canadian-American was charged with participating in a money laundering scheme.
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General John Demers said, “as laid out in today’s indictment, North Korea’s operatives, using keyboards rather than guns, stealing digital wallets of cryptocurrency instead of sacks of cash, are the world’s leading bank robbers.”
Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyok have been charged with criminal hacking and other crimes, and are allegedly a part of the Lazarus Group cybercrime ring, according to a press release. The three were allegedly behind the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which appeared
