Department of the Treasury
US sanctions Russian broker for buying stolen zero-day exploits
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned a Russian exploit broker who bought stolen hacking tools from a former executive of a U.S. defense contractor. The Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Matrix LLC (doing business as Operation Zero and headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia) on Tuesday, along with its owner, Sergey Sergeyevich Zelenyuk, and five […]
US sanctions North Korean bankers linked to cybercrime, IT worker fraud
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on two North Korean financial institutions and eight individuals involved in laundering cryptocurrency stolen in cybercrime and fraudulent IT worker schemes. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Ryujong Credit Bank, a North Korea-based financial institution linked to sanctions-evasion activities between North Korea and China, including money laundering. OFAC […]
U.S. sanctions cyber scammers who stole billions from Americans
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has sanctioned several large networks of cyber scam operations in Southeast Asia, which stole over $10 billion from Americans last year. These operations, mainly those in Burma and Cambodia, are notorious for using forced labor, human trafficking, and physical violence, essentially operating as modern slavery farms that conduct online fraud. The […]
US targets North Korean IT worker army with new sanctions
The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned two individuals and two companies associated with North Korean IT worker schemes that operate at the expense of American organizations. These schemes involve placing in U.S. firms skilled tech workers with stolen or fabricated identities and using so-called “laptop farms” to hide the true location of the […]
US sanctions Grinex crypto-exchange, successor to Garantex
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced sanctions against Grinex, the successor to Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex, which was previously sanctioned for helping ransomware gangs launder their money. A TRM Labs report, released in April, revealed that Grinex has strong ties to Garantex’s previous operations, but stopped short of providing evidence that it was being used […]
US sanctions North Korean firm, nationals behind IT worker schemes
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned three North Korean nationals and a company for supporting fraudulent IT worker schemes that generated illicit revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) government. The sanctioned company is named Korea Sobaeksu Trading Company, and the three North Korean individuals […]
US sanctions firm linked to cyber scams behind $200 million in losses
The U.S. Treasury Department has sanctioned Funnull Technology, a Philippines-based company that supports hundreds of thousands of malicious websites behind cyber scams linked to over $200 million in losses for Americans. Funnull facilitated virtual currency investment scams (also known as romance baiting and pig butchering) by buying IP addresses in bulk from various cloud service providers. The company […]
Hackers lurked in Treasury OCC’s systems since June 2023 breach
Unknown hackers who breached the Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in June 2023 gained access to over 150,000 emails, according to anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The OCC is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that oversees banks and federal savings associations and ensures they comply […]
US removes sanctions against Tornado Cash crypto mixer
The U.S. Department of Treasury announced today that it has removed sanctions against Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer used by North Korean Lazarus hackers to launder hundreds of millions stolen in multiple crypto heists. The Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 for helping launder over $7 billion since its creation in […]
US sanctions Chinese firm, hacker behind telecom and Treasury hacks
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based hacker for his role in the recent Treasury breach and a company associated with the Salt Typhoon threat group. “Yin Kecheng has been a cyber actor for over a decade and is affiliated with the People’s Republic […]