US warns of North Korean cyber threat

Four U.S. agencies -- State Department, Treasury, Homeland Security and the FBI -- issued a joint warning Wednesday against North Korean cyber activities they say poses a "significant threat."

North Korea's "malicious cyber activities threaten the United States and the broader international community and, in particular, pose a significant threat to the integrity and stability of the international financial system," they said in a statement.

They claimed North Korea can conduct "disruptive or destructive cyber activities affecting U.S. critical infrastructure," and it uses cyber capabilities to "steal from financial institutions, and has demonstrated a pattern of disruptive and harmful cyber activity that is wholly inconsistent with the growing international consensus on what constitutes responsible State behavior in cyberspace."

The Trump administration stressed Washington works closely with like-minded countries to focus attention on and condemn such behaviors in cyberspace.

The agencies said the U.S. has been condemning cyberattacks by North Korea for years, citing May 2017's WannaCry 2.0 ransomware attack that affected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world.

"It is vital for the international community, network defenders, and the public to stay vigilant and to work together to mitigate the cyber threat posed by North Korea," the agencies urged.

The U.S. took steps against malicious activities in 2019 by sanctioning three North Korean state-sponsored malicious cyber groups for activities on critical infrastructure.