The U.S. government has offered a prize of up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrest and severance of North Korean IT workers working around the world.
This plan, which was announced on Thursday, is meant to stop these workers from doing illegal things that are thought to be making the North Korean government a lot of money.
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Combatting Cyber Vulnerabilities
The statement from the official Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Twitter account shows how worried people are about North Korea’s online skills.
These IT workers do many different things, from making software to stealing cryptocurrency, all of which help the regime’s funds.
For a long time, the U.S. government has said that North Korea uses cyber operations to get around international sanctions and pay for its weapons projects.
“North Korean IT workers are exploiting the global marketplace to generate revenue that supports the regime’s unlawful activities,” the statement from RFJ said.
“We are offering up to $5 million for information that helps us identify and disrupt these operations.”
A Global Network of Cyber Operatives
People who work in IT in North Korea are known to use fake names, usually as freelancers from other countries.
They get contracts with businesses worldwide to create apps and websites and help with IT issues.
The money from these contracts goes back to the North Korean government to help pay for its nuclear and missile projects.
The U.S. government has been talking more and more about how dangerous North Korea’s cyber operations are.
North Korean hackers have been linked to some of the most well-known scams in the past few years, such as the Sony Pictures hack in 2014 and the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017.
These events have shown how advanced the regime’s cyberattacks are and how willing it is to go after both state and private organizations.
The prize was announced when things are very tense on the Korean Peninsula.
In the past few months, North Korea has done several missile tests, which have been condemned by the rest of the world and led to calls for more diplomacy efforts to improve.
As the U.S. government steps up its fight against North Korean cyber threats, the offer of up to $5 million for information on North Korean IT workers is a big step toward cutting off the regime’s illegal sources of income.
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