The watchdog for sanctions from the US Treasury Department added the North Korean national song Kum Hyok to its “specially designated nationals” list, alleging that it is “a malicious cyber-actor” linked to a North Korean hacking group.
On Tuesday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control moved to block the song of the global financial system, arguing that it had worked to place other North Korean officials in various companies as workers. These IT workers would then return funds in North Korea and, in some cases, would find ways to exploit companies for which they have worked to generate additional income.
The cryptographic industry has been hardly affected by these types of programs, with many major flights which took place following the efforts of North Korean pirates.
“RPDC generates significant income thanks to the deployment of IT workers who fraudulently obtain a job with companies around the world, including in technological industries and virtual currencies,” the press release said on Tuesday.
At the end of last month, Crypto Zachxbt’s investigator and analyst said that “several projects … were operated”, probably due to the hiring of North Korean IT workers as developers.
Although the publication of the Treasury Department of Tuesday mentioned the previous hacks of crypto projects, he did not name any of the crypto portfolios in his list of sanctions. He noted that the department had previously sanctioned the Lazare group, that the investigators have linked to various cryptography hacks in recent years, including the flight of $ 625 million in Infinity Axia and $ 1.5 billion by $ 1.5 billion by this year.
“RPDC IT workers often undertake projects that involve virtual currency, and they use virtual currency exchanges and trading platforms to manage the funds they receive for contractual work as well as to bleach and put these funds back to the RPDC,” the American Treasury Department said on Tuesday.
“Generation of illicit income”
Ari Redbord, the world leader in the TRM Labs government policies and affairs, said that integrated IT workers have served as the generation of illicit income and a possible intrusion activity, especially in cryptographic space “.
“A notable aspect of today’s designation is the explicit reference to North Korean IT workers operating from China and Russia,” he said, adding that this shows an “growing alignment” between the RPDC and certain jurisdictions.
“This action is also part of a wider diagram. During the last month, the Treasury took several measures targeting the use by IT workers by North Korea to channel illicit procedures in Pyongyang often bleached by crypto exchanges and anonymized platforms,” he said.
“Song represents the operational layer behind these patterns: not the pirate, but the catalyst.
Read more: How North Korea infiltrated the cryptographic industry
