Cybersecurity
US Charges North Korean With Hacking NASA, Halting Medical Care
- $10 million bounty is offered for arrest of military operative
- Attacks were part of wider North Korean spying campaign
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A North Korean military operative has been indicted for his alleged role in hacking American medical providers, NASA and for using ransomware to extort organizations around the world, US prosecutors said Thursday.
Rim Jong Hyok is accused of laundering funds through a Chinese bank, then using that money to pay for cyberattacks against a range of international targets. As a member of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency, Hyok worked with other state-sponsored hackers to compromise NASA’s office of the inspector general, two US Air Force bases as well as organizations in Taiwan, South Korea and China, according to an indictment filed in a Kansas City, Kansas district court.