3 North Koreans Indicted for Sony Pictures Attack, Global Cyber Campaign

Three North Koreans were indicted on charges of helping lead the November 2014 Sony Pictures Entertainment cyberattack and an international campaign to steal more than $1 billion from companies and organizations, DOJ announced Wednesday (see 1809060044). Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyok were charged with conspiracy to commit computer fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud in an indictment filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. They created “multiple malicious cryptocurrency applications” and developed and fraudulently marketed a blockchain platform, DOJ alleged. They helped create WannaCry 2.0 ransomware in May 2017, the department alleged. “The scope of the criminal conduct by the North Korean hackers was extensive and long-running, and the range of crimes they have committed is staggering,” said acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Tracy Wilkison. Then-Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai used his CES 2015 speech to blast the SPE hackers as extortionists (see 1501050055).