朝鲜峰会前继续网络攻击行动

Even as it signals a willingness to give up its nuclear arms, North Korea is brandishing another well-known weapon in its arsenal: cyber.

Under heavy sanctions over its nuclear weapons program, the cash-starved government in Pyongyang has for many years used cyberattacks to steal money from banks and other institutions.

Those intrusions are continuing, primarily in Asia and Latin America, even as U.S. President Donald Trump says that a planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will proceed later this month, according to a U.S. cybersecurity firm that advises companies and government agencies that have been breached by hackers.

In recent years, U.S. officials have singled out North Korea among countries that pose growing cyber threats to the United States.

In 2014, suspected North Korean hackers launched a massive attack on Sony Pictures in retaliation for releasing a movie that depicted a fictional assassination plot on Kim.

In 2017, North Korea unleashed the ransomware known as WannaCry that disrupted businesses and government services around the world, including England's National Health Service.