Federal authorities said Wednesday that three North Korean computer programmers have been indicted for conducting a series of cyberattacks to attempt to steal and extort more than $1.3 billion in cash and cryptocurrency from financial institutions and companies.The programmers, who are part of a North Korean military intelligence agency, also are accused of creating and deploying “multiple malicious cryptocurrency applications, and to develop and fraudulently market a blockchain platform,” according to a Department of Justice press release.And the scheme also deployed repeated “spear-phishing campaigns” from 2016 through early 2020 that targeted employees of the U.S. Defense Department, the State Department, …
