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> 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 hav

> 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 of them lessening the cyber-attack capabilities.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
In fairness, the bear poked him first...
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  The article says he downloaded a hacking tool for a friend into a VM that had a back door. Then goes on to say he was “personally targeted”. This is ridiculous.
  - ssklash 5y ago
    NK was specifically targeting prominent security researchers, with fake accounts and blogs, then trying to get the researchers to open a backdoored Visual Studio project. They were absolutely personally targeting people, and I don't doubt he was one of them.
  - jallbrit 5y ago
    I'm not sure that's what the article is saying, and I certainly don't think it's "ridiculous". The relevant part: > In late January of 2021, he opened a file sent to him by a fellow hacker, who had described it as an exploitation tool. Just 24 hours later, he spotted a blog post from Google Threat Analysis Group warning that North Korean hackers were targeting security researchers. Sure enough, when P4x scrutinized the hacking tool he'd received from a stranger, he saw that it contained a backdoor designed to provide a remote foothold on his computer. P4x had opened the file in a virtual machine, digitally quarantining it from the rest of his system. But he was nonetheless shocked and appalled by the realization that he'd been personally targeted by North Korea. The article specifically states he received it "from a stranger", not a friend, which suggests that he was indeed personally targeted. Yes, it does say "fellow hacker", but again this is obviously not someone he knows because it's a "stranger". I guess it comes down to your definition of "personally targeted". Sure, this isn't a spearphishing campaign, but according to Google's blog writeup about these events [1], they basically targeted individual researchers: > The actors have been observed targeting specific security researchers by a novel social engineering method. After establishing initial communications, the actors would ask the targeted researcher if they wanted to collaborate on vulnerability research together... [1] https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/new-campaign-targeting-security-researchers/ https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/new-campaign-targe...
arbitrage 5y ago
NK's capabilities are vastly overblown. Calling it a "bear" is part of their disinformation strategy, just like Russia. You're amplifying their propaganda.
- Shank 5y ago
  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.
  - bigcat123 5y ago
- reaperducer 5y ago
  NK's capabilities are vastly overblown. Calling it a "bear" is part of their disinformation strategy, just like Russia. Calling it a "bear" is utilizing the common expression "Don't poke the bear," not an assessment of North Korea's abilities.
  - throwaway329183 5y ago
    It's not "don't poke the mouse", if the target isn't dangerous there's nothing to fear from poking them
  - errcorrectcode 5y ago
    Please don't feed the trolls or the bears.
- 5y ago
doopy1 5y ago
This is probably just a psyop to embarrass them.

AnimalMuppet 5y ago

In fairness, the bear poked him first...

TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
The article says he downloaded a hacking tool for a friend into a VM that had a back door. Then goes on to say he was “personally targeted”. This is ridiculous.
- ssklash 5y ago
  NK was specifically targeting prominent security researchers, with fake accounts and blogs, then trying to get the researchers to open a backdoored Visual Studio project. They were absolutely personally targeting people, and I don't doubt he was one of them.
- jallbrit 5y ago
  I'm not sure that's what the article is saying, and I certainly don't think it's "ridiculous". The relevant part: > In late January of 2021, he opened a file sent to him by a fellow hacker, who had described it as an exploitation tool. Just 24 hours later, he spotted a blog post from Google Threat Analysis Group warning that North Korean hackers were targeting security researchers. Sure enough, when P4x scrutinized the hacking tool he'd received from a stranger, he saw that it contained a backdoor designed to provide a remote foothold on his computer. P4x had opened the file in a virtual machine, digitally quarantining it from the rest of his system. But he was nonetheless shocked and appalled by the realization that he'd been personally targeted by North Korea. The article specifically states he received it "from a stranger", not a friend, which suggests that he was indeed personally targeted. Yes, it does say "fellow hacker", but again this is obviously not someone he knows because it's a "stranger". I guess it comes down to your definition of "personally targeted". Sure, this isn't a spearphishing campaign, but according to Google's blog writeup about these events [1], they basically targeted individual researchers: > The actors have been observed targeting specific security researchers by a novel social engineering method. After establishing initial communications, the actors would ask the targeted researcher if they wanted to collaborate on vulnerability research together... [1] https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/new-campaign-targeting-security-researchers/ https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/new-campaign-targe...

arbitrage 5y ago

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

Shank 5y ago
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.
- bigcat123 5y ago
reaperducer 5y ago
NK's capabilities are vastly overblown. Calling it a "bear" is part of their disinformation strategy, just like Russia. Calling it a "bear" is utilizing the common expression "Don't poke the bear," not an assessment of North Korea's abilities.
- throwaway329183 5y ago
  It's not "don't poke the mouse", if the target isn't dangerous there's nothing to fear from poking them
- errcorrectcode 5y ago
  Please don't feed the trolls or the bears.
5y ago

doopy1 5y ago

This is probably just a psyop to embarrass them.