How Gmail and other free email services led US to WannaCry hacking suspect
The justice department has lodged criminal charges against Park Jin Hyok, a North Korean employed by alleged government front company Korean Expo Joint Venture
Washington — Clues found in free email services such as Gmail helped US investigators track down a North Korean hacker charged on Thursday with crimes stemming from the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment and the 2017 WannaCry ransomware operation. The email services were used for routine business as well as for phishing attacks and other crimes by a company identified as the Korean Expo Joint Venture, which is a front group for the North Korean government, according to a justice department complaint filed in Los Angeles on Thursday. The justice department lodged criminal charges against Park Jin Hyok, a North Korean national who works for the company and allegedly belongs to a group of conspirators known as the Lazarus Group. The treasury department simultaneously imposed sanctions against Park and his employer. "The scale and scope of the cyber-crimes alleged by the complaint is staggering and offensive to all who respect the rule of law and the cyber norms accepted by resp...
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