The U.S. State Department increased the amount of reward money to $10 million for anyone identifying North Korean hackers

The U.S. State Department has proposed to increase the amount of reward to $10 million to anyone who can provide information on North Korea-sponsored threat groups.  According to U.S. Department officials, “If you have information on any individuals associated with the North Korean government-linked malicious cyber groups (such as Andariel, APT38, Bluenoroff, Guardians of Peace, Kimsuky, or Lazarus Group) and who are involved in targeting U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, you may be eligible for a reward.”

Back in March, the State Department announced an increased bounty of up to $5 million for info on North Korean threat actors targeting the global crypto exchanges and financial institutions. The reward will be given on information regarding North Korean hackers’ cyber activity revealing their location and identification.

The FIB reported the largest crypto hack has been done by threat actors linked to North Korea named Lazarous and BlueNorOff, conducting a theft of $620 million in Ethereum from Axie Infinity’s Ronin network bridge. The State Department said, “They develop and deploy a wide range of malware tools around the world to enable these activities and have grown increasingly sophisticated.”

According to the U.S. government, the hacker group in Pyongyang included several hacking tactics to enable financial theft, money laundering, crypto-jacking campaigns, and extortion operations. The U.S. government charged three Lazarous group members for a theft of $1.3 billion targeting banks, the entertainment industry, and cryptocurrency exchange. According to reports, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned North Korean hacking groups such as Lazarous, Bluenoroff, and Andariel for illegal transactions of money to the North Korean government in 2019. This attack was later confirmed by the United Nations which estimated approximately $2 billion was stolen from crypto exchanges globally.

REWARD! Up to $10M 💰for information on DPRK-linked malicious #cyber activity & #cyberthreat actors.

Got a tip on the Lazarus Group, Kimsuky, Bluenoroff, Andariel, or others? Send it to RFJ via our TOR-based tip line. https://t.co/oZCKNHU3fY pic.twitter.com/ONKHXwWiV1

— Rewards for Justice (@RFJ_USA) July 26, 2022