The charges are part of a strategy by the US government to deter future cyberattacks by naming and shaming the alleged perpetrators
The US Justice Department is poised to charge North Korean hackers over the May 2017 global WannaCry ransomware attack and the 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures, a US official said on Thursday.
The charges are part of a strategy by the US government to deter future cyberattacks by naming and shaming the alleged perpetrators.
A US government official familiar the Sony case says authorities will charge a North Korean who is believed to have operated out of China.
A Sony spokeswoman declined to comment.
The US government has previously said that North Korea was responsible for the cyberattack, which resulted in the disclosure of tens of thousands of leaked emails and other materials.
The Justice Department in recent years has charged hackers from China, Iran and Russia in hopes of publicly shaming other countries for sponsoring cyberattacks on US corporations.
In 2014, for instance, the Obama administration charged five Chinese military hackers with a series of digital break-ins at American companies, and last year, the Justice Department charged Russian hackers with an intrusion at Yahoo.
US officials believed the Sony hack was retribution for The Interview, a comedy film that starred Seth Rogen and James Franco and centred on a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un. Sony cancelled the release of the film amid threats to film-goers.
