US slaps sanctions on North Koreans involved in cybercrime, IT worker asset laundering

North Korean firms Korea Mangyongdae Computer Technology Company and Ryujong Credit Bank, KMCTC President U Yong Su, and seven other individuals have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control over their participation in laundering earnings from state-backed cyberattacks and the country's IT worker scheme, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Among those subjected to punitive action were Jang Kuk Chol and Ho Jong Son of the already sanctioned First Credit Bank, who had laundered almost $5.3 million worth of cryptocurrency obtained from a ransomware intrusion against a U.S.-based organization and IT worker scams aimed at U.S. firms, according to the Treasury Department. Also sanctioned were five other North Korean representatives conducting money laundering activities in Russia and China.

"[North Korean] cyber actors are responsible for conducting high-level cyber-enabled espionage, disruptive cyberattacks, and financial theft at a scale unmatched by any other country," said the department, which noted that more than $3 billion have already been pilfered by North Korean threat operations over the past three years.