The 10 most famous hackers in history

The more we rely on technology, the more potential power hackers gain over us. It doesn't matter if their goal is to help or cause harm — these guys have the opportunity to change the world at their discretion. They can remain elusive and always be in the shadows, and many hackers prefer this kind of life, but there are several truly brilliant hackers whose names are known to the public.

1. Robert Tappan Morris

Even if you know almost nothing about computer viruses, you've probably heard about so-called "worms" anyway. The first person to launch such a virus into the network was Robert Tappan Morris.

Morris, a graduate student at Cornell University, created his "worm" and released it online on November 2, 1988, which paralyzed the work of six thousand computers in the United States. Subsequently, he claimed that he just wanted to see how much the Internet had grown, and what happened was the consequences of an experiment that got out of control. However, the "worm" turned out to be something much more than just a test: it read /etc/passwd, trying to find passwords for accounts. In the end, Morris was fined and sentenced to three years of probation.

Morris later became a professor at Harvard University and the author of a huge number of developments in the field of software. Today he is a professor of computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Not a bad career for a hacker.

2. Kevin Mitnick

It all started when Kevin Mitnick suddenly wanted to use public transport for free.

Mitnick hacked into the Los Angeles bus system by forging a travel document. Later, at the age of 12, he became a telephone fraudster — at first he amused himself by redirecting the home phone signal to a payphone and listening to home phone owners being asked to drop a dime before a conversation. Then I just started calling for free wherever I wanted. And a few years later, Mitnik was already wanted all over the country for hacking the Digital Equipment Corporation network and stealing their programs. This may have been his first notable hack, but later the guy got into the networks of the phone giants Nokia and Motorola.

The FBI caught him in 1995 after hacking the leading American computer security specialist Tsutomu Shimomura. Mitnick was sentenced to five years in prison, and when he got out of prison, he became involved in computer system protection and founded Defensive Thinking Inc., a company specializing in computer security. He has also written several books about hackers.

3. Adrian Lamo

Yes, companies sometimes hire hackers to test weaknesses in their systems, but no one has ever hired Adrian Lamo.

In 2002 and 2003, Lamo hacked into the systems of several large companies just for fun, and then informed the companies about errors in their security systems. Among the objects attacked by the hacker were Microsoft, Yahoo and the New York Times, where he added his contact information to the database of experts.

Known as the "homeless hacker", Lamo most often worked by connecting to the network in Internet cafes and public libraries. Many believe that he was motivated by a thirst for fame. Lamo's intrusion into the NY Times network in 2003 attracted the attention of cybercrime opponents to him, he was caught and sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years of probation. Lamo now works as a well-known lecturer and journalist, an independent security consultant, but at the same time avoids any hired office work.

4. Gary McKinnon (aka Solo)

London hacker Gary McKinnon of Scottish origin acted not so much for pleasure as for political purposes.

In 2002, McKinnon broke into the computers of the US Department of Defense, Army, Navy, Air Force and NASA. Subsequently, he stated that he was looking for evidence of concealing information about UFOs, withholding information about alternative energy sources and other technologies potentially useful to society.

This is not a joke. McKinnon said that he has reason to believe that the US government is hiding alien technologies that could solve the global energy crisis. However, the self-taught hacker admits that he could "accidentally" delete a whole bunch of other files and possibly damage some hard drives when he tried to cover his tracks. However, he still insists that nothing special has happened.

The US government, in turn, claims that McKinnon's attack cost $ 800,000, and also questions whether the hacker was really looking for information about UFOs. The British lawyers who took Gary under protection insist that their client, suffering from Asperger's syndrome, deserves special treatment due to unstable mental health.

5. Raphael Gray (aka Curador)

Raphael Gray called himself a righteous man and insisted that he was only trying to help e-commerce sites when he hacked their databases to steal credit card numbers and personal information of 26,000 American, British and Canadian customers in 2000.

Then an 18-year-old Welsh teenager said that he was just trying to draw attention to vulnerabilities in security systems. However, it is not completely clear why he posted the stolen card numbers in open access on the Internet in this case, but that's another question.

In 2001, Gray was sentenced to three years of compulsory psychiatric treatment.

6. John Draper

Draper can be called the grandfather of hackers without exaggeration. Back in the early 1970s, he was considered the "king" of telephone hooligans - that is, he made free calls. At that time, the Internet was not yet widespread and few people had personal computers, so Draper was busy with phones.

The hacker found out that a toy whistle from a box of cornflakes makes a sound similar to an electric signal for access to the telephone network, and came up with a way to call for free: he dialed an international number and blew the whistle. The whistle signal coincided with the signal of the telephone network and informed the system that Draper had hung up. Thus, the line was considered free, and all further actions of the subscriber were not recorded.

After several experiments , John , along with his friends Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs (familiar names, aren't they?) we have created a device called Blue Box, which allows you to simulate the sounds of the telephone network and make free calls. Later Draper wrote the world's first text editor for IBM PC "EasyWriter". He currently heads his own computer security company.

7. Kevin Poulsen (aka Dark Dante)

In the 1980s, just when phone phreaking became very popular in certain circles, Poulsen played a witty joke with the Los Angeles radio station KIIS, falsifying several phone calls that allowed him to win the most important prizes — a trip to Hawaii and a Porsche car.

A little later, the hacker broke into the FBI database and gained access to classified information regarding wiretapping, after which the FBI began hunting for him. As a result, Poulsen was caught and sentenced to five years.

He now holds the position of editor-in-chief of Wired News.

8. Dmitry Galushkevich

In 2007, Internet access suddenly disappeared throughout Estonia. This "small but very tech-savvy" country blamed the Russian government for everything. Just then there were frequent riots in Estonia due to the dismantling of Soviet monuments, so it was quite logical to suspect Russia.

The hackers responsible for this cyberterrorism gained access to all the computers in the country and used them, overloading all the servers. ATMs did not work, web pages did not open, government systems had to be shut down.

It took Estonian officials several weeks to find the culprits. It turned out that the commotion was caused by someone Dmitry Galushkevich, a 20-year-old ethnic Russian living in Estonia. He made this commotion alone or with a group of like-minded people, it was not possible to find out. Galushkevich himself was fined 17,500 kronor (about 45,000 rubles).

9. Jonathan James (aka c0mrade)

In the list of computer systems that must be incredibly protected so that no computer genius breaks through, the system of the US Department of Defense undoubtedly occupies an honorable place. However, the American hacker Jonathan James hacked this system and penetrated their server. The guy was 15 years old at that time.

On June 29 and 30, 1999, James attacked NASA. He was able to freely climb all over the network and steal several files, including the source code of the international space station. Of course, NASA launched a large-scale operation to catch the hacker, and soon James was caught. NASA estimated the damage at $1.7 million.

Due to the fact that James was not of legal age, he was sentenced to only six months in prison, and was also forced to commit himself to not using computers.

Unfortunately, James is no longer alive. He died on May 18, 2008 under mysterious circumstances. The official cause of death is suicide, but there are rumors that the uncooperative hacker was "removed" by government agencies.

10. Deceptive Duo (pictured by Robert Little)

In 2002, the Deceptive Duo (a group of two people — 20-year-old Benjamin Stark and 18-year-old Robert Little) committed a number of high-profile hacks of government networks, including the US Navy, NASA, the FAA and the Department of Defense.

Like many other hackers, Stark and Little claimed that they simply wanted to point out security vulnerabilities and thereby help their country. Two hackers left messages in these systems and posted the email addresses of officials and classified government websites on well-known resources in an attempt to attract the attention of the government. And attracted.

In 2006, both hackers pleaded guilty. Stark received two years of probation, Little received four months of probation with a probation period of three years, and both had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in compensation for the damage caused.