US charges three North Koreans for major hacks and cyber-thefts

North Korean intelligence agents charged with $1.3bn in cyber-heists, extortion, malware and phishing schemes.

The United States Justice Department has charged three computer programmers working for the North Korean military with using cross-border cyberattacks to raise money for North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un. A federal indictment unsealed in federal court in Los Angeles, California alleges Jon Chang-hyok, age 31, Kim Il, age 27, and Park Jin-hyok, age 36, are members of North Korea’s military intelligence service, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. The three hackers were responsible for a wide-ranging series of cyberattacks beginning in 2014 with the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment and thefts from banks in Asia and Africa the indictment alleges.