Sep 4, 2026 · 27 min
One researcher took North Korea offline for nine days
He hacked back — and took down North Korea’s internet
The episode tests whether private cyber retaliation can deter attackers or instead cross legal and strategic red lines.
- 1Alejandro Caceres found North Korea’s global internet connection depended on two vulnerable routers.
- 2His denial-of-service attack disrupted government portals, news sites, and airline bookings for nine days.
- 3The retaliation raises unresolved questions about authorization, civilian infrastructure, and the boundary between espionage and warfare.
Don't miss
Caceres explains how he identified two vulnerable routers and used them to keep North Korea’s internet offline for nine days.
The brief
Donald Trump’s proposal to authorize private offensive cyber operations sets up the episode’s central question: what changes when the target is tied to a foreign government?
After a supposed Google Chrome exploit revealed a crude backdoor, Alejandro Caceres concluded North Korean hackers had targeted his research and decided to retaliate.
Mapping North Korea’s unusually limited internet infrastructure, Caceres found that two vulnerable routers carried the country’s connection to the global internet.
He used a denial-of-service attack against those routers, taking government portals, news sites, and an airline booking system offline for nine days.
The Pentagon declined his broader offensive proposal, citing risks that attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute war crimes and fall outside existing authorities.
The episode leaves a difficult policy choice: whether trusted private teams could respond faster than governments without turning cyber defense into uncontrolled escalation.
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