Binance Freezes Accounts Connected to Alleged North Korean Cyber Crime

• Binance helped US law enforcement in seizing $4.4 million and freezing accounts connected to North Korean hackers.
• The US Treasury Department sanctioned North Korean institutions allegedly connected to cyber crimes.
• The crypto exchange revealed that it took action against the accounts almost a year ago.

The leading crypto exchange, Binance, declared its involvement in the US Department of Treasury’s recent investigation into alleged North Korean cybercrime. The company revealed that it had assisted the authority in “seizing $4.4M and freezing accounts linked to North Korean organized crime”.

In a tweet shared on May 25, Binance acknowledged the efforts of US law enforcement as well as the company’s investigation team for “their unwavering commitment to combating crime worldwide”:

On May 23, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) charged North Korean organizations, alleging their involvement in “obfuscated revenue generation and malicious cyber activities” to support the “illicit” activities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Government.

It was claimed that the government has been engaged in “malicious cyber activities”, with the help of techies who aided in the allegedly felonious aim of North Korea’s autocratic ruler Kim Jong Un, especially for the country’s missile program, as has been reported previously.

Binance disclosed that the company took action against the accounts of those individuals and organizations almost a year ago, adding that every step put forward by Binance was in compliance and “in collaboration with law enforcement”.

Binance stressed the transparency of the blockchain system, quoting:

The blockchain provides a tremendous amount of transparency, which enables law enforcement to uncover these types of crimes. We work closely with authorities around the world every day to help prevent crimes and take action against bad actors.

The four organizations that were sanctioned by the department included the Pyongyang University of Automation, the Chinyong Information Technology Cooperation Company, the Technical Reconnaissance Bureau, and the 110th Research Center. The authority also charged an individual, King Sang Man, who allegedly served as a paymaster for the fraudulent activities.

North Korea’s cyber-attacks have been a topic of discussion for many years. The U.S. alleges that the nation engages in malicious attacks with the intention to finance illicit activities. Recently, another attack was attributed to a North Korean group, Bluenoroff, which deployed the RustBucket malware, targeting macOS users.