The U.S. government issued an alert on Wednesday warning of North Korean hackers targeting banks in other countries. 

The U.S. Treasury Department, the FBI, U.S. Cyber Command, and the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued the warning in a joint alert. 

The federal authorities said that "North Korean government cyber actors" were using malware to gain illicit access to "banks in multiple countries to initiate fraudulent international money transfers and ATM cash outs."

They said North Korea's BeagleBoyz are responsible for the sophisticated cyber-enabled ATM cash-out campaign identified publicly as "FASTCash" in October 2018.

The alert came amid a prolonged stalemate in nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the U.S. and about 70 days ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

[Photo : Getty Images Bank]