The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has taken $500,000 in ransom payments and cryptocurrency from a state-sponsored North Korean cluster. “We are united in returning the money taken from the victims,” Deputy General Counsel Lisa O. Princedom said, adding that the money taken includes ransoms paid by health care providers in Kansas and Colorado.
DOJ seizes crypto from North Korean state-backed cluster
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Tuesday it had been caught and confiscated some $500,000 from the North Korean ransomware actors and their conspirators. The department added that it filed a lawsuit “in the District of Kansas to confiscate cryptocurrency paid as ransom to North Korean hackers or otherwise have a habit of laundering such ransom payments.”
The Department of Justice said:
In May 2022, the FBI filed a sealed seizure warrant for the value of certain funds [*fr1] $1,000,000. The funds taken include ransoms paid by health care providers in Kansas and Colorado.
Assistant General Counsel Lisa O. princedom reiterated at the 2022 International Cybersecurity Conference on Tuesday, “We have taken some [*fr1] $1,000,000 in ransom payments and cryptocurrency has a habit of laundering these payments. She added, “Thanks to prompt reporting and the cooperation of a victim, FBI and DoJ prosecutors have halted the activities of a North Korean state-sponsored cluster deploying ransomware called ‘Maui’.”
Last year, the North Korean cluster encrypted the servers of a medical center in Kansas, used to “store important information and operate key instruments”, explained the principality. The attackers demanded a ransom, which the hospital paid.
FBI and DoJ prosecutors copied the ransom payment via blockchain. “The FBI has known China-based money launderers – the kind of UN agency that frequently helps North Koreans ‘collect’ ransom payments in edict currency,” the attorney general explained. deputy. “Additional blockchain analysis discovered that these same accounts contained alternative ransom payments. The FBI copied them to another medical provider in Colorado and potential victims overseas.
Monaco added:
Today, we made public the seizure of these ransoms, and that we are able to return the funds taken to the victims.
In October last year, the principality declared the establishment of a National Cryptocurrency Social Control Team (NCET). The goal of the initiative is “to tackle the complicated investigations and prosecutions of criminal uses of cryptocurrency, including crimes committed by virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and the concealment of infrastructure actors,” explained the Ministry of Justice. “The team will also help trace and recover assets lost to fraud and extortion, as well as cryptocurrency payments to ransomware teams.”
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