The U.S. sanctions North Korea's three major hacking groups.

In an announcement on September 13th, the United States has added North Korea's three major hacker groups to the sanctions list, citing cryptocurrency theft as one of their motivations for cyber crimes.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed financial sanctions on hacking groups such as Lazarus, Bluenoroff, and Andariel, linking them to the theft of $571 million in cryptocurrency from five Asian exchanges in 2017 and 2018.

The announcement comes shortly after North Korea declared its intention to host a second cryptocurrency-related conference, inviting members of the crypto community to attend in Pyongyang in February next year to share information.

According to reports, the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that the stolen funds included tokens from cryptocurrency exchanges and have been used for the development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles.

Following the sanctions, any assets held by the three major hacking groups will be blocked, and they must report to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

The announcement specifies that Americans, including citizens, residents, and registered companies in the U.S., are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with these hacking groups.

Furthermore, any country or financial institution that transacts with these groups may lose their correspondent banking relationships with U.S. financial institutions and be excluded from the U.S. dollar market.

The organization, led by Lazarus and including Bluenoroff and Andariel as subgroups, also known as Apple Worm and Guardians of Peace, was involved in the 2017 WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack.

Bluenoroff gained attention from cybersecurity firms in 2014, sometimes referred to as APT38 or Stardust Chollima, for previously stealing funds from financial institutions, including $80 million from the Bangladesh Central Bank.

Andariel first caught the eye of the internet security community in 2015, primarily targeting financial and defense industries, allegedly infiltrating the personal computer of the South Korean Minister of Defense in 2016.

According to the announcement, all three hacking groups are controlled by North Korea and are associated with the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

Further Reading

• U.S. Long-Term Sanctions Drive Cuban People to Adopt Cryptocurrency
• Bitcoin Donation Frozen for 3 Weeks, Hong Kong Free Press Criticizes: Never Use BitPay Again

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