The FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware.
The agencies were able to recover half a million dollars in ransom payments. That's according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. She revealed new details of the attacks during a speech in New York on Tuesday.
She encouraged organizations hit by ransomware to report the crime to law enforcement, both so that officials can investigate and so that they can help victim companies try to get ransom payments back.
In one case, Monaco said, a Kansas hospital that paid a ransom last year after being attacked by ransomware also contacted the FBI, which traced the payment and identified China-based money launderers who assisted the North Korean hackers in cashing out the illicit proceeds. The FBI recovered half a million dollars, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital, the Associated Press reported.
