An individual believed to have ties to North Korea's military intelligence agencies has been indicted for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to hack American health care providers, according to federal prosecutors. The indictment, issued by a grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, named the accused as Rim Jong Hyok.
Rim Jong Hyok is accused of laundering ransom money and using the proceeds to fund additional cyber attacks on defense, technology, and government entities globally. The cyber intrusion on American hospitals and health care providers reportedly disrupted patient treatment, causing significant repercussions.
Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City, emphasized the detrimental impact of such cyber crimes on the citizens of Kansas. He highlighted North Korea's exploitation of these activities to evade international sanctions and finance its political and military objectives.
According to the Justice Department, a Kansas hospital fell victim to a ransomware attack in May 2021, resulting in the encryption of critical files and servers. The medical center paid approximately $100,000 in Bitcoin to retrieve its data. Subsequently, the department successfully recovered the ransom payment, along with funds from a Colorado health care provider affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.
Recent years have seen the Justice Department prosecuting multiple cases related to North Korean cyber hacking, often attributing a profit-driven motive to the perpetrators. In a notable instance in 2021, three North Korean computer programmers were charged with various global hacks, including a destructive assault on an American movie studio and an attempted theft exceeding $1.3 billion from financial institutions and corporations.
Investigators revealed that Rim Jong Hyok was associated with the Andariel Unit of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, a military intelligence agency. Allegedly, Hyok conspired to employ ransomware software for cyberespionage operations targeting American hospitals, as well as government and technology entities in South Korea and China.
