North Korea accused of ransomware attack on US hospital

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A man who allegedly worked for North Korea’s military intelligence agency has been indicted for his alleged role in a conspiracy to hack into U.S. health care providers, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

A grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, indicted Lim on charges of laundering extortion money and using it to finance more cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world. Officials said the hacking of U.S. hospitals and other medical institutions disrupted patient care.

“While North Korea uses cybercrime like this to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the impact of these wanton actions directly impacts the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, a special agent with the FBI in Kansas City.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Hyok.

Justice Department officials said: Kansas hospital attackedThey did not disclose specific information, but the incident took place in May 2021, when hackers encrypted the medical center’s files and servers. The hospital paid about $100,000 in Bitcoin to restore the data.

The department said it not only recovered that ransom, but also a payment from a Colorado health care provider that was affected by the same Maui ransomware variant.

The Justice Department has brought several criminal cases in recent years related to North Korean hacking, generally alleging profit-seeking motives, as distinguished from Russian and Chinese hacking.

In 2021, for example, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers with a series of global hacks, including a destructive attack on a U.S. film studio and attempts to steal and extort more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies.

Investigators say Hyok was a member of the Andariel Unit of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North Korean government’s military intelligence agency. Hyok is suspected of conspiring to use ransomware to conduct cyber espionage attacks against U.S. hospitals and other government and technology entities in South Korea and China.