Approximately one year ago, state-sponsored hackers in North Korea targeted a large swatch of internet security experts in the United States. One of those hackers would go by the pseudonym or “handle” P4x.
The North Koreans reportedly had the apparent goal of stealing their hacking tools and knowledge of western software exploits. Little did they know that P4x, who told his story to tech publication WIRED, took this attack personally.
Two weeks ago, as the tech outlet reported, outside observers of North Korea‘s insular, heavily censored slice of the internet began to see some serious connectivity problems in the Hermit Kingdom.
According to WIRED, across several days nearly every website located in the isolated communist nation, even if they are but a few dozen, began to shut down intermittently.
These sites ranged from booking sites for Air Koryo all the way to Naenara, a portal for North Korean government officials.
The outlet went on to note, “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.”
“It felt like the right thing to do here. If they don’t see we have teeth, it’s just going to keep coming,” the hacker said, according to WIRED.
For weeks, North Korea’s global communications were crippled. But the culprit wasn’t a world superpower—it was the work of a frustrated pajama-clad American, sitting in his living room eating spicy corn snacks: https://t.co/NyWy2YYTNA
?: Jacqui Vanliew/Getty pic.twitter.com/S6YOaK5ytl
— WIRED (@WIRED) March 16, 2022
The hacker’s name was withheld by the publication, and they reported that he “shared screen recordings to verify his responsibility for the attacks but declined to use his real name for fear of prosecution or retaliation.”
Do you think that this was an appropriate response?
Junade Ali, a cybersecurity researcher specializing in North Korean internet traffic told WIRED that he started seeing what looked like wide-ranging attacks on the country’s internet connectivity in the last two weeks and had no theories as to who or what was causing it.
“As their routers fail, it would literally then be impossible for data to be routed into North Korea,” Ali told WIRED, describing what followed as “effectively a total internet outage affecting the country.”
Although WIRED’s sources like Martyn Williams, from the Stimson Center think tank’s 38 North Project, told the outlet that most of the sites P4x has taken down repeatedly are mostly used for propaganda and targeted toward international audiences.
At least Williams explained, P4x might be annoying Pyongyang.
“I would say, if he’s going after those people, he’s probably directing his attentions to the wrong place,” said Williams. “But if he just wants to annoy North Korea, then he is probably being annoying.”
P4x said, “I definitely wanted to affect the people as little as possible and the government as much as possible.”
Given the nature of WIRED’s reporting on this story, The Western Journal has been unable to independently verify the claims of P4x.
