In a fresh move to curb North Korea’s covert cyber operations, the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on two individuals and four entities accused of enabling malicious IT workers to penetrate American crypto firms.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on July 8 that it had sanctioned North Korean national Song Kum Hyok and Russian national Gayk Asatryan for facilitating schemes that funnel illicit funds into Pyongyang’s sanctioned weapons programs.
Song Kum Hyok is alleged to have ties with North Korea’s elite Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) and its notorious hacking unit, Andariel. According to OFAC, Song helped DPRK IT operatives secure remote employment at crypto-related companies by crafting fake identities based on stolen U.S. citizen data. Once hired, these workers split their earnings with Song, directly bolstering the regime’s nuclear ambitions.
Meanwhile, Asatryan is accused of using his Russia-based businesses, Asatryan LLC and Fortuna LLC, to employ dozens of North Korean IT workers under contracts with DPRK state trading companies. These trading firms – Korea Songkwang Trading Corporation and Korea Saenal Trading Corporation – were also sanctioned for dispatching workers abroad to raise hard currency for the regime.
The Treasury revealed that North Korea has strategically placed thousands of skilled IT operatives, particularly in China and Russia, instructing them to mask their identities through fake profiles, proxy accounts, and forged documents. Once embedded in firms, they allegedly exploit freelance platforms and crypto exchanges to channel earnings back to Pyongyang.
Cyber investigator ZachXBT estimates that nearly 920 North Korean IT workers may have secured roles within crypto firms, generating over $16 million in salaries from unsuspecting employers.
U.S. authorities are intensifying their crackdown, targeting both the individuals orchestrating these schemes and the corporate infrastructure that sustains them. The Department of Justice has recently filed criminal charges against DPRK-linked operatives while pursuing asset forfeiture cases to reclaim millions laundered through crypto exchanges.
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