Australia sanctions North Korean Hacker group, which was implicated in stealing approximately 1.8 trillion won in Crypto Assets last year.

[Australia sanctions North Korean hacker group, which allegedly stole about 1.8 trillion won in crypto assets last year] The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the 6th local time, stating that financial sanctions and travel bans have been implemented against 4 entities and 1 individual suspected of participating in cyber crimes involving the North Korean regime's theft of crypto assets. The sanctions target include the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau's hacker group “Lazarus Group”, “Kim Su Gil” (phonetic), “Andariel”, “Chosun Expo”, and hacker Park Jin Hyok (phonetic) under Chosun Expo. Among them, Park Jin-hyuk and the Lazarus Group are suspected of participating in ransomware attacks (a type of cyber attack that uses encryption to lock files on computers and demands payment for the restoration of those files). Kim Soo-gil, Andariel, and North Korean Expo are suspected of targeting international medical systems, nuclear power plants, think tanks, etc., for cyber attacks. All of the aforementioned sanctioned entities have previously been sanctioned by authorities in South Korea, the United States, and others. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs pointed out that according to a recent report released by the “Multinational Sanctions Monitoring Team (MSMT)” composed of 11 Western countries including South Korea, the United States, and Japan, North Korean cyber criminals, including these organizations and individuals, stole at least 1.9 billion Australian dollars (approximately 1.8 trillion Korean won) in Crypto Assets from global enterprises just last year.