Washington: The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on eight individuals and two entities linked to laundering funds derived from North Korea's illicit activities, including cybercrime and IT worker fraud.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the sanctions are part of efforts to curb the financing of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. John K. Hurley, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, emphasized that North Korean state-sponsored hackers engage in financial crimes to support Pyongyang's weapons development, posing a threat to US and global security.
The recent Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team report, titled "The DPRK's Violation and Evasion of UN Sanctions Through Cyber and Information Technology Worker Activities," highlights the ongoing threat these activities pose. The report links these operations to the funding of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction programs and the destruction of computer equipment.
North Korea's government uses a variety of illicit activities, including cybercrime, to finance its weapons and ballistic missile programs. DPRK cyber actors are noted for their high-level cyber espionage, disruptive attacks, and large-scale financial theft, having stolen over USD three billion in the past three years, primarily in cryptocurrency.
Additionally, DPRK IT workers, who are dispersed globally, disguise their identities to secure IT development contracts. They earn substantial revenue by using false identities and collaborating with foreign freelance programmers, sharing profits from projects originally assigned to these foreign workers.