If the computer and internet has simplified our lives by the great conveniences that they provide, they have also bought about some devils with them too. As they say, nothing is perfect, so isn’t the internet. With all its greatness, people still are afraid of having their personal information stolen, their passwords changed, or even their website being completely taken over, all thanks to the hackers. Today, we have compiled a list of top 10 infamous hackers who for once astounded the worlds with their feats.
No 10. Eric Corley
Better known by his pseudonym Emmanuel Goldstein, Eric Corley was a well-known hacker in the 80s and 90s. He faced trial in 1999 for sharing DeCSS codes and a method to download them. The codes allowed for decrypting of encrypted DVDs. His court case was the first to test the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Today, he owns a non-profit organization called the 2600 Enterprises, Inc. and publishes a magazine called 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.
In 2001, he took part in a demonstration against the jailing of Kevin Mitnick and in 2004 was arrested for videotaping the demonstration and was charged with disorderly conduct.
No 9. Robert T. Morris, Jr
In 1988, the Morris worm was created and Robert T. Morris, Jr was the one who created it. It was a first ever computer worm. He was a student at Cornell when he set off the worm from MIT, from MIT so as to hide his tracks. According to Morris, he just wanted to know the number of computers connected to the internet. The unintentional damages caused by the worm ranged in between $20,000 to $530,000. Morris did community service for the damages and was set free.
Currently, he is a teacher in the field of computer science and electrical engineering at MIT.
No 8. Nahshon Even-Chaim
He stands as the first Australian to be arrested and convicted of computer hacking in Australia. He was famously known as Phoenix. He was part of an Australian hacking team called The Realm. His targets were defence and nuclear weapons research networks. In 1980s he started breaking into systems by dialing in directly or placing calls through X.25 networks. Later on, he used the internet as it became available.
In 1988, the Australian Federal Police officers discovered his identity through undercover operations. They later on obtained a warrant to tap into Even-Chaim’s phone conversations and the data transmitted through his modem, which ultimately led to his arrest in April, 1990. He did 12 months of jail time and 500 hours of community service. Today, he works in the IT field.
No 7. Mark Abene
Online, he was known as Phiber Optik. Born in New York in 1972, he was once a member of the hacker groups Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception. At a mere age of 9, Abene was able to access dial-up computers and this was the source of his curiosity which led him to learning numerous computer languages of the time.
His house was searched in January, 1990 along with the houses of his other group members. He was arrested then and had to serve 35 months of community service. Today Abene works as an independent consultant.
No 6. Fred Cohen
Fred Cohen is the man responsible for the first computer virus. The virus or “parasitic application” that he created was able to completely overtake a computer and control each one of its functions. Back then, in 1983, he was a student at the University of Southern California’s School of Engineering currently the Viterbi School of Engineering.
As unbelievable as it may sound, he also created “good” viruses or positive viruses like the once which would compress all executable files on a computer, thereby saving hard disk space. Today he runs a company that provides information security. By the way, the guy was never jailed.
No 5. Vladimir Levin
A Russian-born Jewish, Vladimir Levin was infamous for his involvement in the attempt to fraudulently transfer US$10.7 million via Citibank’s computers. In 1994, he accessed several Citibank accounts and used dial-up wire transfer service to successfully transfer the money out of these accounts into accounts located in Israel, Germany, the U.S., Finland, and the Netherlands. He was arrested in 1995 when 3 of his accomplices were arrested in three of these locations. He served 3 years of jail time and was ordered to pay $240,015. Currently, he is living and doing business in Lithuania
No 4. John Schiefer
John Schiefer is the latest person to be charged and sentenced for hacking. He was charged with wire and bank fraud, intercepting private information to commit identity theft and installing malware on dozens of computers in order to retrieve private information. in 2009, he was sentenced to four years in prison.
He installed malware in company computers that would intercept vital information such as usernames, passwords and account numbers. Then he would use bank accounts to make fraudulent purchases.
No 3. Adrian Lamo
Best known for breaking into The New York Times, Yahoo! News, and Microsoft, Lamo surrendered to the U.S. Marshals on September 9, 2003. Earlier he went into hiding after realizing that he was being tracked. For 15 months Lamo was investigated by the F.B.I. on complaints of many companies. He plead guilty in court and was ordered to pay $65,000. He was also sentenced to home detention and probation afterwards.
He is known as a grey hat hacker; he would find security flaws in computer networks of several companies and report back to them, so that they could be fixed. Today Lamo is in a college, studying in the field of journalism.
No 2. Kevin Poulsen
Born in 1965, Poulsen, also known as Dark Dante, is a former black hat hacker. He is best known for his takeover of the KIIS-FM phone lines, a Los Angeles based radio station. At the time, KIIS-FM was running a contest in which the 102
nd caller would possibly win a Porsche 944 S2. With the intent of getting the Porsche, Poulsen clogged all of the lines and made himself the 102
nd caller. He was arrested in June 1994 and charged with wire, mail, and computer fraud, as well as money laundering. He had to spend 4 months in jail and payed $56,000.
Currently, he is a senior news editor for
Wired News.
No 1. Kevin Mitnick
Born in 1963, Kevin Mitnick was the most-wanted computer criminal in the United States at the time of his arrest. Mitnick also known as “Condor” was arrested in 1995 for countless acts of computer fraud. Quite apt in the art of social engineering, Condor, at the age of 12, bypassed the card system used in the L.A. transit system. Mitnick just for the sake of “intellectual curiosity” hacked into Digital Equipment Corporation systems, Nokia, Motorola, Fujitsu Siemens, and many others. He published a book entitled The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security in 2002, in which he talks of his experiences with hacking.
Today he owns a company that offers security consulting.
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