P4x, whose identity was uncovered as Alejandro Caceres, a cybersecurity entrepreneur of Colombian-American descent, had been targeted by North Korean spies attempting to steal his intrusion tools. In response, Caceres orchestrated a counterattack by taking down all available public websites in North Korea. He aimed to teach the country a lesson.
“I believed it was the right thing to do,” Caceres explained to Wired. “If they don’t see that we have teeth, they will continue their intrusive actions.”
After gaining recognition for his remarkable feat, Caceres took to Reddit to engage with the community. He invited questions about the hack, his personal life, or anything else on people’s minds.
Caceres was asked if it had been difficult to disable North Korea’s network. He responded candidly: “Honestly, I’ve been asked this a lot. It’s hard to say. To me, it wasn’t that challenging, but only because of my training in this field.”
When questioned about any insights he gained about North Korea through the hack, Caceres divulged, “Their internet infrastructure is incredibly weak. It’s like they’re using sticks and glue. Additionally, I discovered they only have two routers for internet access.”
Curious about the consequences of his actions, another Reddit user inquired if he had faced any negative repercussions. Caceres admitted that he had not, and, in fact, many people seemed to appreciate what he had done. However, he mentioned that intelligence agencies had approached him seeking information about the hack.
Finally, someone asked Caceres if his encounters with the authorities resembled scenes from the movies, with trench coat-clad individuals knocking on his door. He replied humorously, “We actually had a few meetings in a basement that felt like something out of the X-Files, but mostly it was like any other normal meeting. It was a strange but interesting experience.”
Caceres’s bold act of taking down North Korea’s internet shed light on the vulnerabilities of their network infrastructure. While he hasn’t faced any significant repercussions thus far, his hack serves as a stern reminder that strength in cyberspace is essential for protecting against potential threats.
