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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

#31

Post by snowwrestler »

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.

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

#32

Post by ncmncm »

dash2 wrote: post #12
lelandfe wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Implying that the hacking attributed to NK might have been a false flag?

Indeed another person quoted in the article suggests that the hacking might have come from China.

NK trains up and operates hacking groups to generate income, not just to be unpleasant. So, guessing that would mean NK is renting out hacking services to China. Other ways to generate income from hacking is operating a ransomware gang, renting out botnets, and gathering banking passwords to use in draining accounts. We may assume they are involved in all of the above.

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

#33

Post by ummonk »

eclipsenet wrote: post #22
dash2 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed another person quoted in the article suggests that the hacking might have come from China.

That's the wrong takeaway from that bit though I think. I believe they are saying that China and other states are the actors on behalf of NK not that they are using NK as patsies ... granted that may also be true. International politics and espionage is a weird domain.

I think the implication is that these are North Korean hackers stationed in China, not that China is doing it on their behalf.

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

#34

Post by throwaway9986 »

gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #18
mrkstu wrote: post #11

I would imagine the intelligence services aren't happy he's providing them free pen-test services. He's taking potential tools out of their toolbox when they may need/want them in a future time of conflict.

So if the reds start parachuting down over your community you should just sit pretty lest you interfere with your military’s operations? The equivalence is not a false one in my eyes because a cyberattack against a US national’s systems should be seen as an attack on a US national’s property.

[dead]

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

#35

Post by hsnewman »

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.

I wouldn't want to be the one who tests this, jail is jail regardless if your right or wrong. Getting out of jail isn't as quick as you may think.

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

#36

Post by pessimizer »

tehjoker wrote: post #17

So your tools get stolen and you take down possibly critical infrastructure for huge numbers of people? Terrorism. Imagine someone did that to America in response to the NSA hacking them (read, most of the world's population all the time since the Bush administration). We celebrate that when it's done to official enemies.

The North Korean regime just needs to come in from the cold, like Gaddafi did, which certainly worked out well for him and the Libyan people.

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

#37

Post by excalibur »

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…

> Also the vagueness of our hacking laws probably make what he did a crime.

Yes, it is most definitely and intentionally illegal. Things don't stop being crimes just because the victims are communists.

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

#38

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#39

Post by mrkstu »

dc-programmer wrote: post #28
mrkstu wrote: post #11

I would imagine the intelligence services aren't happy he's providing them free pen-test services. He's taking potential tools out of their toolbox when they may need/want them in a future time of conflict.

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.
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