LIST OF MOST DANGEROUS HACKER
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.
10Albert Gonzalez
How safe is internet banking? When we browse through the profile of
this mastermind, we are certain that one ought to use the World Wide Web
with immense care. For two long years, Albert Gonzalez, stole from
credit cards of the netizens. This was recorded to be the biggest credit
card theft in the history of mankind. He resold approximately 170
million credit cards and ATM numbers. He did so by installing a sniffer
and sniffing out the computer data from internal corporate networks.
When arrested, Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in Federal prison
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