from the you-wouldn't-like-him-when-he's-angry dept.
North Korea Hacked Him. So He Took Down Its Internet:
For the past two weeks, observers of North Korea's strange and tightly restricted corner of the internet began to notice that the country seemed to be dealing with some serious connectivity problems. On several different days, practically all of its websites—the notoriously isolated nation only has a few dozen—intermittently dropped offline en masse, from the booking site for its Air Koryo airline to Naenara, a page that serves as the official portal for dictator Kim Jong-un's government. At least one of the central routers that allow access to the country's networks appeared at one point to be paralyzed, crippling the Hermit Kingdom's digital connections to the outside world.
[...] But responsibility for North Korea's ongoing internet outages doesn't lie with US Cyber Command or any other state-sponsored hacking agency. In fact, it was the work of one American man in a T-shirt, pajama pants, and slippers, sitting in his living room night after night, watching Alien movies and eating spicy corn snacks—and periodically walking over to his home office to check on the progress of the programs he was running to disrupt the internet of an entire country.
Just over a year ago, an independent hacker who goes by the handle P4x was himself hacked by North Korean spies. P4x was just one victim of a hacking campaign that targeted Western security researchers with the apparent aim of stealing their hacking tools and details about software vulnerabilities. He says he managed to prevent those hackers from swiping anything of value from him. But he nonetheless felt deeply unnerved by state-sponsored hackers targeting him personally—and by the lack of any visible response from the US government.
So after a year of letting his resentment simmer, P4x has taken matters into his own hands. "It felt like the right thing to do here. If they don't see we have teeth, it's just going to keep coming," says the hacker. (P4x spoke to WIRED and shared screen recordings to verify his responsibility for the attacks but declined to use his real name for fear of prosecution or retaliation.) "I want them to understand that if you come at us, it means some of your infrastructure is going down for a while."
P4x says he's found numerous known but unpatched vulnerabilities in North Korean systems that have allowed him to singlehandedly launch "denial-of-service" attacks on the servers and routers the country's few internet-connected networks depend on.
[...] US government criticisms aside, P4x is clear that his hacking aims primarily to send a message to the Kim regime, which he describes as carrying out "insane human rights abuses and complete control over their population." While he acknowledges that his attacks likely violate US computer fraud and hacking laws, he argues he hasn't done anything ethically wrong. "My conscience is clear," he says.
And what's the final goal of his cyberattacks on that totalitarian government's internet infrastructure? When will he end them?
"Regime change. No, I'm just kidding," P4x says with a laugh. "I just want to prove a point. I want that point to be very squarely proven before I stop."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 04 2022, @03:58PM (5 children)
Some do-gooders in one government or another is going to charge him with something. North Korea will target him, not to mention Chinese hackers. It just seems a not-smart move to put his story in the news.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @04:12PM (4 children)
I agree. It's not like his own country's government will support him on this. They probably see disruption of North Korea as being their turf to either do or not according to their own whims.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday February 04 2022, @05:35PM (3 children)
Yeah, cause it would be super great if North Korea got goaded into doing something stupid because of some vigilante...
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 05 2022, @12:45AM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday February 05 2022, @02:28AM (1 child)
The most stable system between nuclear powers is... inhospitable.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 05 2022, @02:55AM
(Score: 4, Insightful) by datapharmer on Friday February 04 2022, @05:13PM (14 children)
Hope he has a pot of coffee on for company when he gets a knock at the door by some three letter agencies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @05:32PM
counter hacking is legal in america
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @05:46PM (11 children)
My concern would be an NK wet squad. They have no qualms about kidnapping and/or murdering foreigners that attract their attention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @07:24PM (7 children)
you seriously think the norks are going to send a squad of assassins to kill an american citizen on american soil?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @08:45PM
If they thought they could get away with it? You bet they would.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday February 04 2022, @11:17PM (5 children)
Yes, with a qualifier. They may or may not send one of their own, but they can easily hire the hit out. How many people around the world might be willing to take a mercenary job to shut up some hacker? We read often of idiots offering or accepting a hit job for a couple thousand bucks. If the North Koreans put out a contract for a million, some pro or semi-professional would cash in on it. No fuss, no muss, just a single gunshot in the late evening as he's returning from a night out.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @11:35PM
Runaway sounds worried. Last remaining "commies", you know.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 05 2022, @01:05AM
"Unprofessional" killers would be more psychologically damaging. Unsolved murders happen all the time, it's better for propaganda if everyone knows they can get touched, and that any joe rando short on cash might be the one. An easy way to stoke fear and authoritarian reactions that cause instability.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 05 2022, @03:13AM (1 child)
I think you mean two shots in the back in a "bungled robbery" that didn't even take the cash in his wallet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 05 2022, @03:41AM
Does Hillary and the DNC run North Korea?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 05 2022, @07:10AM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Kim_Jong-nam [wikipedia.org]
Easy peasy.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday February 05 2022, @03:43PM (2 children)
Indeed. Kim Jong-Un had his brother assassinated in Australia.
P4x better be on guard for somebody slipping poisoned kimchi into his next pizza delivery.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday February 05 2022, @05:06PM (1 child)
They have to find out who he is first.
Impeach Donald Palpatine and his sidekick Elon Vader
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 08 2022, @04:12AM
Wouldn't be hard for a nation state and in a country where with the right monetary incentives folks would sell their meemaw to slave traders.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday February 04 2022, @09:26PM
Such company would decline anything drinkable or edible he may have to offer.
(Score: 1, Troll) by VLM on Friday February 04 2022, @05:32PM (1 child)
Because it was a false flag operation, obviously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @05:43PM
A hacker at his level should be able to identify where an attack is really coming from. Any of the US security apparatus who have noticed probably think it's funny that a lone wolf is able to smack NK down like that and most probably agree that it should be done. The US security apparatus doesn't respond because they take their marching orders from the politicians and it isn't politically expedient at the moment.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @05:35PM (1 child)
It was aristarchus, wasn't it? ;-)
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @11:12PM
You have been warned to not speculate about the "victim". Are you seriously suggesting that aristarchus has doxxed Kim Jong-un? Did he release his real name and home address?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @05:41PM (1 child)
He's not making money... He's not trying to change the regime... Not sure what's left on the table aside from vengeance and terrorism.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday February 05 2022, @12:47AM
You already quoted the relevant section. Vengeance it is.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @06:04PM (2 children)
How many stories of "bad yellow man gonna get you" do Americans need to tell themselves?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @07:11PM
Until they prostate themselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 05 2022, @06:30AM
Hey! White man bad, too! 'Specially if he from Russia!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bloodnok on Friday February 04 2022, @07:05PM (1 child)
I have to admire the guy's tenacity, ability, guts, and sheer ability to harbour a grudge.
But he seems to have had a complete failure of good sense.
Hoping it works out for him.
__
The major
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @07:18PM
Yeah I'm pretty sure they can figure out who he is now if they haven't already. After all if they really targeted him he would be on a list. So they just have to go through that list again.
So if he continues being too annoying he might just die - they can just pay some suckers to do the deed on him like they did in this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Kim_Jong-nam [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Username on Friday February 04 2022, @07:24PM (4 children)
We decided to interview him, the strong white man who took on those nasty koreans. We arrived at his house, around 1PM, the time when he usually wakes up. A skinny woman in her late 60s greeted us at the door. She was wearing a flower dress and victory curled hair. She told us he was her son, and served us coffee in the kitchen, as she baked pie for him. Then we felt his house shake. Like mini earthquakes, one after the other. The knob on the basement door rattled, then opened, and there he was. It was him, P4x. He stayed in the doorway and panted, trying to catch his breath from the arduous task of stair climbing, which he successfully defeated. Once he gained enough stamina back, his strong male eyes darted around the room until they found us. He then tipped his fedora at us, his guests. Letting us know we are allowed in his house. Then he grasped his mobility scooter with his strong male hands and climbed on, and rascaled his way to us. As he ate his pies for breakfast he told us about his victory over the korean government. He used his big hands and mom's creditcard to rent a botnet and DDOSed North Korea's one website dealing with foreign relations. After the interview was over a few of our female staffers decided to stay behind and give him blowjobs as thanks for his fight against his enemy. He waved them away, saying he was saving himself for his wife.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 04 2022, @11:22PM (1 child)
Kinda funny - but I'm leaving the troll mod as is. Try harder next time.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Saturday February 05 2022, @04:18AM
Eh, I'll pull the trigger. I laughed.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 05 2022, @01:56PM
WALL O' TEXT
(Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday February 08 2022, @04:17AM
LOL... first 2 act was nothing special, but I do love the ending! Points for that!