North Korea was accused of being behind the 2014 hack of an internal computer network of Sony Pictures Entertainment, an audacious attack that exposed Hollywood secrets and destroyed company data.
On Wednesday, United States officials said that was only the beginning.
In indicting three North Korean computer programmers for their involvement in the Sony hack and other attacks on global banking, financial, entertainment and cryptocurrency entities, the US Justice Department accused them and a group of conspirators of extorting more than US$1.3 billion (S$1.73 billion) of cash and cryptocurrency.
The attacks included the attempted theft of nearly US$1 billion from the central bank of Bangladesh in 2016, and a year later, holding two Central American casinos hostage for more than US$2.5 million in ransom, according to US officials.
More recently, the group has focused on stealing cryptocurrencies, according to prosecutors.
The hackers discreetly injected malicious software into their own line of digital currency applications, granting them access to the devices of their victims, which included cryptocurrency companies in Slovenia and Indonesia and an unnamed financial services firm in New York.
In all, the victims of the cryptocurrency scam lost more than US$100 million, according to the US.
North Korea's hackers "have become the world's leading bank robbers", said Mr John Demers, head of the Justice Department's National Security Devision. "Simply put, the regime has become a criminal syndicate with a flag, which harnesses its state resources to steal hundreds of millions of dollars."
The hackers were identified as North Koreans Jon Chang Hyok, Kim Il and Park Jin Hyok.
Other North Koreans allegedly involved in the conspiracy were not named.
The indictment unsealed on Wednesday expands on a criminal complaint charging Park in 2018 for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to conduct multiple cyber attacks, including the Sony hack.
In the face of global sanctions to punish it for its nuclear weapons programme, North Korea has relied heavily on cybercrime to fill its depleted coffers.
It had taken in about US$2 billion in 2019 through the worldwide theft of resources from the financial sector, according to testimony to a US House committee in June.
The alleged hacking campaign outlined on Wednesday was part of an elaborate operation aimed at collecting money for North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau, a military intelligence agency.
Pyongyang uses the Reconnaissance General Bureau to run its cybercrimes, according to a United Nations Panel of Experts responsible for investigating North Korea's sanctions evasion.
BLOOMBERG
