EU Imposed Sanctions against Russian Intelligence and Companies from the DPRK and China

These are the first cybercrime sanctions in EU history The European Union on Thursday imposed visa and financial sanctions on the structure of Russian military intelligence and companies from North Korea and China in connection with their alleged involvement in large-scale cyber-attacks around the world. The first cybercrime sanctions in the history of the EU have affected the Main Center for Special Technologies of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. The European Union accuses the secret service of conducting two cyber-attacks against European companies in June 2017, which led to large financial losses. The service is also accused of two cyber-attacks on the Ukrainian power system in 2015 and 2016. The sanctions list also included four Russian military intelligence officers suspected of involvement in a cyber-attack against the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Netherlands in April 2018. The sanctions were also applied to the North Korean company Chosun Expo, suspected of supporting the Lazarus hacker group, which is believed to be responsible for a series of major attacks around the world, including the theft of $ 81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2016 year. This attack is considered the largest cyber fraud case in the world. The company is also suspected of involvement in the attack on the Hollywood film studio Sony Pictures to disrupt the release of a satirical film about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2014. The U.S. Treasury Department last year imposed sanctions on Lazarus and two other North Korean hacker groups for their alleged involvement in attacks on Sony Pictures and the Central Bank of Bangladesh. The department believes that the main intelligence service of North Korea is behind the hacker groups. North Korea has denied any involvement in the cyber-attacks. The European Union has also imposed sanctions on the Chinese company Haitai Technology Development, which is accused of supporting Operation Cloud Hopper cyber-attacks aimed at stealing confidential business data from multinational corporations around the world. The sanctions list also included two Chinese citizens suspected of involvement in the attacks. Sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes. Individuals, companies and other organizations from the EU are prohibited from providing funds to those on the list.