Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has revealed that it "assisted US law enforcement" in confiscating $4.4 million worth of crypto assets linked to a North Korean cybercrime group.
In a May 25 Twitter post, Binance said that through its Binance Investigations team, it was working with US law enforcement to stop “illegal revenue-generating activities” by four now-sanctioned entities in North Korea. "We proactively took action against accounts ass ocated With these individuals more than a year ago, pursued to a lawful warrant and in cooperation with law enforcement," the company said. Asked if the company had more collaborative efforts at work, a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the company is “continuously monitoring our platform to prevent nefarious nation-state actors and cooperating with law enforcement.”
Thailand sanctioned four entities and one individual for engaging in "malicious cyber activities in support of the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)," a May 23 statement from the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced. The Four entities are the Jin Yong Information Technology Cooperation Company, the Pyongyang University of Automation, the 110th Research Center, and the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau.
According to the US Treasury Department, Chinyong is believed to have a "workforce of thousands of highly skilled IT workers around the world" tasked with generating "revenue that contributes to its illicit WMD and ballistic missile programs." ". The workers used false or stolen identities to apply for overseas IT jobs, including technology and crypto-related jobs, and then laundered the money back to North Korea through crypto exchanges.
One individual, Kim Sang Man (Kim), was also placed under OFAC's sanctions and was "presumed to have participated in the payment of wages to family members of the Chinyong Overseas North Korean Workers Delegation" and received $2 million in cryptocurrency from the sale of IT equipment to him North Korea-affiliated teams in China and Russia. According to the US Department of the Treasury, the Technical Reconnaissance Office "leads North Korea in the development of offensive cyber tactics and tools and operates multiple units, including one affiliated with the Lazarus Group."
The Lazarus Group has raided several crypto/blockchain projects in recent years. It is believed to be linked to the $620 million hack of Axie Infinity's Ronin Bridge in March 2022. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed in late April that the company had recovered $5.8 mill ion from The Lazarus Group after discovering that some of the ill-gotten money had been transferred on the exchange.
