The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has imposed sanctions against North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau senior official Song Kum Hyok for his involvement in expanding the country's IT worker scheme in Russia and China, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.
North Korean IT workers in Russia and China had been provided by Song who has been linked to the North Korean state-sponsored hacking operation Andariel with U.S. names, Social Security numbers, and addresses that led them to be hired in U.S. companies between 2022 and 2023, according to the OFAC. Also subjected to punitive action were Russian national Gayk Asatryan and four firms part of an IT worker campaign in Russia that also supported North Korea. "Treasury remains committed to using all available tools to disrupt the Kim regimes efforts to circumvent sanctions through its digital asset theft, attempted impersonation of Americans, and malicious cyberattacks," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender. Such a development comes after numerous North Koreans and at least two U.S. citizens have been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department over their involvement in the IT worker operation.
North Korean IT workers in Russia and China had been provided by Song who has been linked to the North Korean state-sponsored hacking operation Andariel with U.S. names, Social Security numbers, and addresses that led them to be hired in U.S. companies between 2022 and 2023, according to the OFAC. Also subjected to punitive action were Russian national Gayk Asatryan and four firms part of an IT worker campaign in Russia that also supported North Korea. "Treasury remains committed to using all available tools to disrupt the Kim regimes efforts to circumvent sanctions through its digital asset theft, attempted impersonation of Americans, and malicious cyberattacks," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender. Such a development comes after numerous North Koreans and at least two U.S. citizens have been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department over their involvement in the IT worker operation.
