In
the world of web where we get the global connectivity, it is far easier
to break into someone’s personal zone. By personal, we do not just mean
the social media. The world wide web which has become the hub of
storing and restoring information, considered to be the safest vault, is
a mere toy in the hands of a few computer geniuses. Hackers, Black Hat
Hackers, villains, crackers, cyber-criminals, cyber pirates as they are
well-known, throw a malicious software or virus at a system to gain the
access to the desired information. Piqued by curiosity, they may perhaps
break into your system too. Here are top 10 hackers or the whiz kids
who put the world in awe with their dexterity.
1. Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon must’ve been a curious,
restless child, for to gain information on UFOs, he thought it better to
get a direct access into the channels of NASA. He infiltrated 97 US
military and NASA computers, by installing virus and deleting a few
files. All the efforts to satisfy his curiosity, but, alas, curiosity
killed the cat. It was soon found that McKinnon was guilty of having
hacked the military and NASA websites from his girlfriend’s aunt’s house
in London. While entering and deleting the files from these websites
wasn’t enough, McKinnon thought of shaming the security forces by
putting out a notice on the website that said, “Your security is crap.”
Well, looks like McKinnon was something, if he could shut down the US
Military’s Washington Network of about 2000 computers for 24 hours,
making the hack, the biggest military computer hack of all time!
2. LulzSec
LulzSec or Lulz Security, a high profile,
Black Hat hacker group, gained credentials for hacking into Sony, News
International, CIA, FBI, Scotland Yard, and several noteworthy accounts.
So notorious was the group that when it hacked into News Corporations
account, they put across a false report of Rupert Murdoch having passed
away. While the group claims to have retired from their vile duties, the
motto of the group, “Laughing at your security since 2011!” stays
alive. There are assertions of the group having hacked into the websites
of the newspapers like The Times and The Sun to post
its retirement news. Many, however, claim that this group had taken it
upon itself to create awareness about the absence of efficient security
against hackers.
3. Adrian Lamo
Adrian Lamo decided to switch careers when
he realized the potentials of his skills. He became a news when he
hacked into Yahoo!, Microsoft, Google, and The New York Times. This,
although culminated into his arrest, it later helped him gain the batch
of an American Threat Analyst. A guy who would hack into top-notch
accounts sitting in the spacious and comforting cafeterias, libraries,
internet cafes, soon turned Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning over to
FBI. While Manning was arrested for leaking several hundred sensitive US
government documents, Lamo went hiding or should we presume,
undercover?
4. Mathew Bevan and Richard Pryce
Targeting the over-sensitive nerves, what
Mathew Bevan along with his alleged partner Richard Pryce did, could
have triggered great many issues between USA and North Korea. The duo
hacked the US military computers and used it as a means to infiltrate
the foreign systems. The crucial contents of Korean Atomic Research
Institute were dumped into USAF system. However, the contents were
majorly relevant to South Korea and hence, less volatile. But this,
nonetheless, could have led to a huge international issue.
5. Jonathan James
The first juvenile to be imprisoned for a
cyber-crime at the age of 16, Jonathan James or better known as c0mrade,
hacked into Defense Threat Reduction Agency of US department. Further,
he installed a sniffer that scrutinized the messages passed on between
the DTRA employees. Not only did he keep a check on the messages being
passed around, in the process, he collected the passwords and usernames
and other such vital details of the employees, and further even stole
essential software. All this cost NASA to shut down its system and to
pay from its pocket $41,000. c0mrade, however, had a bitter ending as
James committed suicide in 2008.
6. Kevin Poulsen
How far would you go to win your dream car
or a dream house? How far will you go to win an online contest or a
radio show contest? Perhaps, you shall keep trying your luck, unless you
are Kevin Poulsen! Poulsen infiltrated a radio shows call-in contest
just so he could win a Porsche. Dark Dante, as he was better known, went
underground after FBI started pursuing him. He, later, was found guilty
of seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering and
the likes. What turned out to be rewarding in Dark Dante’s case is – his
past crafted his future. Poulsen now serves as a Senior Editor at
Wired.
7. Kevin Mitnick
Clad in an Armani suit, when a
bespectacled face in his mid-40s smiles at you from the computer screen,
you can hardly consider the man a cyber-criminal. Such is the case with
Kevin David Mitnick. Once upon a time, the most wanted cyber-criminal
of US, now is an affluent entrepreneur. Kevin, who is now a security
consultant, was convicted of hacking Nokia, Motorola and Pentagon. He
pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud that included wire fraud,
computer fraud and of illegally interception a wire communication. After
five years of incarceration that included eight months of solitary
confinement, Mitnick now has started afresh. However, his knack with the
computers is still reminisced and was even depicted on celluloid in the
films Takedown and Freedom Downtown.
8. Anonymous
The concept of being a “digital Robin
Hood” was far from being conceived, but in the computer age, it is very
likely that someone somewhere has bagged this title. A “hacktivist
group” called Anonymous are known with the penname of being the “digital
Robin Hood” amongst its supporters. Identified in public by wearing a
Guy Fawkes Masks, Anons, as they are widely known, have publicized
themselves by attacking the government, religious and corporate
websites. The Vatican, the FBI, the CIA, PayPal, Sony, Mastercard, Visa,
Chinese, Israeli, Tunisian, and Ugandan governments have been amongst
their targets. Although, Anons have been arguing whether to engage in a
serious activism or a mere entertainment, many of the group members have
clarified their intent which is to attack internet censorship and
control.
9. Astra
Astra, a Sanskrit word for weapon was the
penname of a hacker who dealt in the weapon stealing and selling. A
58-year-old Greek Mathematician hacked into the systems of France’s
Dassault Group, stole vulnerable weapons technology data and sold it to
different countries for five long years. While the real identity of the
ASTRA remains untraced, officials have said that he had been wanted
since 2002. Astra sold the data to approximately 250 people from around
the globe, which cost Dassault $360 millions of damage.
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