The U.S. government has indicted a North Korean government-backed hacker for his alleged role in ransomware attacks on American hospitals and other government agencies.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday announced the indictment along with a reward offer of up to ten million dollars for information on Rim Jong Hyok, the accused North Korean operative, or anyone else linked to Andariel, a cyber group controlled by the North’s military intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau.
The State Department said the victims of the group include five U.S. healthcare providers, four defense contractors and U.S. air bases.
Rim and his accomplices are accused of hacking into the computer systems of U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers and installing a ransomware program that encrypted targeted computers. They then demanded payment in cryptocurrency to restore access to the victimized computers.