Earlier today the US issued a $5 billion bounty for information on the North Korea hackers known as the DPRK the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Departments of State, the Treasury, and Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau are working together in a joint operation with other international parties to bring an end to DPRK hacking abilities.
The most well know DPRK hack was with the Movie The Interview on how screenings of the movie were disrupted due to DPRK relentless attacks on Sony films. Which eventually got the premiere of the movie canceled.
Yet that's no the government's biggest concern. Their concern is how they target the financial sector which from reports says they could have laundered almost up to $2 billion for the regime.
Their main focus is to get money for the regime since North Korea has been under heavy sanctions.
The US did also state that the Wannacry 2.0 ransomware that hit the world in May of 2017 was a big step to show how dangerous the DPRK is. The US PDF even refers to them as a "Hidden Cobra"
Even the UN security Council in a 2019 report states "That the DPRK is increasingly able to generate revenue notwithstanding UN Security Council sanctions by using malicious cyber activities to steal from financial institutions through increasingly sophisticated tools and tactics."
The US has been on DPRK's case about their hacking. They issued three sanctions but in 2019 targeting the hacking groups. And just last month they charged two Chinese nationals for help DPRK to launder money.
The US even gave a warning to companies who may directly or indirectly aid DPRK. Within the PDF there are numerous paragraphs explaining how a company may combat the hacking threats. Such as raising awareness, using best cybersecurity practices, and notifying law enforcement when something does happen.
The hopes of the released document today is to increase international efforts to prevent DPRK from causing more chaos in the cyberspace as well any information on these North Korea hackers.
