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North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

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Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#51

Post by Waterluvian »

ballenf wrote: post #2

I would have advised him to stay quiet about this. Not out of fear of the North Koreans, but out of fear of our own security agencies seeing the activity as interfering in international relations. Also the vagueness of our hacking laws probably make what he did a crime. But I also am immensely proud that we have people willing to take things into their own hands when needed. Also, I feel like the 2nd amendment should…

The other day I read a (possibly wrong, fictional, or dramatized) account of some private group hacking Belorussian railways to impede Russian military logistics.

I'm sure this is not new, but to me it is a fascinating concept: the modern era equivalent of Partisan soldiers, conducting cyber warfare in their jammies.

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#52

Post by zentiggr »

mrkstu wrote: post #39
dc-programmer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article says he’s exploiting known (ancient) vulnerabilities

Yes, he's exhausting their quiver of easy/cheap and instead they'd be forced to waste zero days right up front.

Well, if they're not going to use them to find and shut down the NK hackers, then they should step aside for those who will.

(Of course, there could be deeper ops from the CISA side, but if their only cost is having to lose older vulns, so be it.)

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#53

Post by jxidjhdhdhdhfhf »

pmalynin wrote: post #44
ballenf wrote: post #2

I would have advised him to stay quiet about this. Not out of fear of the North Koreans, but out of fear of our own security agencies seeing the activity as interfering in international relations. Also the vagueness of our hacking laws probably make what he did a crime. But I also am immensely proud that we have people willing to take things into their own hands when needed. Also, I feel like the 2nd amendment should…

We’ll it’s interesting in this case, because technically speaking a peace treaty was never signed and North Korea is in the state of war with the United States. So is it really a crime to attack a hostile state?

Who knows. It seems like anything can be interpreted as a crime these days. Hopefully he's got good lawyers advising him.

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#54

Post by Shank »

ballenf wrote: post #2

I would have advised him to stay quiet about this. Not out of fear of the North Koreans, but out of fear of our own security agencies seeing the activity as interfering in international relations. Also the vagueness of our hacking laws probably make what he did a crime. But I also am immensely proud that we have people willing to take things into their own hands when needed. Also, I feel like the 2nd amendment should…

The 2nd amendment already has interpretation questions around the first half -- the "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State," clause. It could go in any number of directions, from expanding "arms" to include "digital arms" to reducing the right only to "as part of a well regulated militia." See: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment

But I wouldn't bet money on the right expanding beyond firearms any time soon, given the glacial pace of constitutional law review.

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#55

Post by oh_sigh »

pessimizer wrote: post #27
oh_sigh wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, the world certainly loves Nelson Mandela.

But doesn't love Osama Bin Laden, although Afghanistan certainly suffered more from US involvement than the US has suffered from North Korea, whose people it killed millions of.

OBL bombed more than just infrastructure. I wonder how the US/world would have felt about him if he decided to take out the Statue of Liberty or something like that (while it was closed for repairs).

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#56

Post by decremental »

snowwrestler wrote: post #31
ballenf wrote: post #2

I would have advised him to stay quiet about this. Not out of fear of the North Koreans, but out of fear of our own security agencies seeing the activity as interfering in international relations. Also the vagueness of our hacking laws probably make what he did a crime. But I also am immensely proud that we have people willing to take things into their own hands when needed. Also, I feel like the 2nd amendment should…

The 2nd Amendment says the government can’t infringe your right to possess arms. It does not say that it’s legal for you to use your arms against others to make a point. “Digital arms” are legal to possess in the U.S. as far as I know. Again, that is not the same thing as legalizing any use of them.

Important to note that "digital arms" are not a real thing as far as anyone's rights are concerned. God given rights probably but as far as encoded in law, not the case.

Also, don't engage in cyber warfare against other nations because the feds will come down on you harder than your target could hope to[1]. Obviously because it's stupid to put your country at risk.

[1] Unless you live in the US and that country is Israel.

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#57

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

jxidjhdhdhdhfhf wrote: post #53
pmalynin wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ll it’s interesting in this case, because technically speaking a peace treaty was never signed and North Korea is in the state of war with the United States. So is it really a crime to attack a hostile state?

Who knows. It seems like anything can be interpreted as a crime these days. Hopefully he's got good lawyers advising him.

Agreed. This is immensely foolish on his part. And he can rest assured that his identity is known.

One crime does not justify another.

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#58

Post by bashinator »

edm0nd wrote: post #20
ballenf wrote: post #2

I would have advised him to stay quiet about this. Not out of fear of the North Koreans, but out of fear of our own security agencies seeing the activity as interfering in international relations. Also the vagueness of our hacking laws probably make what he did a crime. But I also am immensely proud that we have people willing to take things into their own hands when needed. Also, I feel like the 2nd amendment should…

I'm down with the right to own botnets under the 2A.

I'm hopeful that the new originalist makeup of the SCOTUS means no longer unconstitutionally limiting what's meant by "arms". ICBMs for billionaires! /s

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#59

Post by Shank »

arbitrage wrote: post #50
sudobash1 wrote: post #3

> 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. Frankly, I feel that international relations are going poorly enough without vigilantes poking the bear. And also, I doubt that bringing down their network infrastructure will have the desired effect o…

NK's capabilities are vastly overblown. Calling it a "bear" is part of their disinformation strategy, just like Russia. You're amplifying their propaganda.

North Korea's power doesn't come from its technical capabilities in terms of nuclear weapon usage against the United States. North Korea's power comes from its close proximity to South Korea, which is well within striking distance, and how the geopolitical ramifications amplify out. Even with conventional weapons, a re-ignition of hostilities on the Korean peninsula would be disastrous. Relative to Russia, which more or less has the ability to trade with the world, and has a fairly sustainable economy, North Korea has basically nothing.

The whole reason why NK repeatedly tests nuclear and conventional strike capabilities is to power project, get people to the negotiating table, and try to get supplies/food/money from countries in exchange for a halt of testing.

Re: North Korea hacked him, so he took down its internet

#60

Post by commoner »

schwanky wrote: post #6

It's easy to accuse North Korea. They can't practically respond to the accusations because they have no outlet anyone reads, and if anyone did then nobody would care anyway.

North Korea has Rodong Sinmun, which has an online edition in English. People interested in North Korean politics do read this newspaper.

- Website: http://www.rodong.rep.kp/en/

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodong_Sinmun

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