By NICK INGRAM, MICHAEL GOLDBERG and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A North Korean military intelligence operative has been indicted in a conspiracy to hack into American health care providers, NASA, U.S.
military bases and international entities, stealing sensitive information and installing ransomware to fund more attacks, federal prosecutors announced Thursday. The indictment of Rim Jong Hyok by a grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, accuses him of laundering the money through a Chinese bank and then using it to buy computer servers and fund more cyberattacks on defense, technology and government entities around the world. The hacks on American hospitals and other health care providers disrupted the treatment of patients, officials said.
He’s accused of targeting of 17 entities across 11 U.S. states, including NASA and U.
S. military bases, as well as defense and energy companies in China, Taiwan and South Korea. For more than three months, Hyok and other members of the Andariel Unit of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau had access to NASA’s computer system, extracting over 17 gigabytes of unclassified data, the indictment says.
They also reached inside computer systems for defense companies in Michigan and California along with Randolph Air Force base in Texas and Robins Air Force base in Georgia, authorities say. The malware enabled the state-sponsored Andariel group to send stolen information to North Korean military intelligence, furtherin.