KANSAS CITY, Kansas — A man who officials say worked for one of North Korea’s military intelligence agencies has been charged in connection with his alleged conspiracy to hack U.S. health care providers, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
A grand jury in Kansas City, Kansas, has indicted Rim Jong Hyok, who is accused of laundering ransom money and using the money to fund additional cyberattacks on defense, technology and government agencies around the world. The hacks on U.S. hospitals among other health care providers disrupted patient care, officials said.
“While North Korea uses these types of cybercrimes to circumvent international sanctions and fund its political and military ambitions, the consequences of these reckless acts directly impact the citizens of Kansas,” said Stephen A. Cyrus, an FBI agent based in Kansas City.
No attorney for Hyok is listed in online court records.
Justice Department officials said a attack on a hospital in Kansaswhich they did not identify, happened in May 2021 when hackers encrypted the medical center’s files and servers. The hospital paid about $100,000 in Bitcoin to get its data back.
The department said it collected the ransom, as well as a payment from a health care provider in Colorado who was hit by the same Maui ransomware variant.
The Justice Department has filed several criminal cases in recent years involving North Korean hacking, often citing a profit motive that sets the activities apart from those of hackers in Russia and China.
In 2021, for example, the department charged three North Korean computer programmers with a wide range of global hacks, including a destructive attack on a U.S. film studio, and with the attempted theft and extortion of more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies.
Investigators said Hyok was a member of the Andariel Unit of the North Korean government’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, a military intelligence agency. Hyok allegedly conspired to use ransomware software to conduct cyberespionage hacks against U.S. hospitals and other government and technology entities in South Korea and China.
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Goldberg reported from Minneapolis.
