The U.S. believes Bluenoroff was created by
North Korea to raise money in the face of
increased global sanctions. The group has
used phishing and backdoor intrusions to
steal money from foreign financial institutions,
targeting more than 16 organizations across
11 countries.
By 2018, the group is believed to have tried to
steal more than $1.1 billion, and successfully
stole from banks in Bangladesh, India, Mexico,
Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan,
Turkey, Chile, and Vietnam.
Rep. Jim Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat
who co-chairs the Congressional Cybersecurity
Caucus, said the WannaCry ransomware attacks
and hacking of the SWIFT interbank messaging
systems were both major incidents targeting
critical civilian infrastructure.
“Responsible nations do not engage in this
kind of destabilizing behavior, and we must
take action to hold irresponsible states
accountable,” said Langevin, who sits on
the House Armed Services and Homeland
Security committees.
The third hacking group partly focused on
hacking South Korea’s government and
infrastructure, the U.S. said. It also developed
malware to hack online poker and gambling
sites and tried to steal bank card information
by hacking ATMs.
All three groups likely stole around
$571 million in cryptocurrency from five
exchanges in Asia between January 2017
and September 2018, according to the
Treasury Department.