5 Best hackers

Kevin Mitnick (Kevin Mitnik)
Name Kevin Mitnick is perhaps synonymous with the word can be called "hacker". The US Department of Justice it is still considered the most dangerous of all time cybercriminals. His crimes have even been immortalized in the movie "Breaking».

Mitnick began with the fact that hacked the Los Angeles transportation card system to free ride on the buses. And then, like Steve Wozniak (Steve Wozniak) of Apple, Mitnick tried his hand in the field of phone phreaking (make free calls due to the fact that he knew the device phone system). Mitnick was first convicted for hacking into the network of the corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and stealing software.

After that Mitnick took up hacking across the United States. In his own words, he got into phone networks, stole corporate secrets and penetrated into the defense system of the country. The end of his hacking career came when he cracked home "machine" computer expert and hacker Tsutomu Shimomura sovmestitelstvu (Tsutomu Shimomura).

Now Mitnick - a useful member of society. After five years and eight months in solitary confinement, he became a consultant in computer security.



Adrian Lamo (Adrian Lamo)

Lamo caused extensive damage to Microsoft and The New York Times. It connects to the internet cafe, points Kinko printing photos and even libraries, and in the end he dubbed the "homeless hacker". Lamo frequently found errors in security and cracked them. At the same time, he informed us about these mistakes.

List breakups Lamo includes companies such as Yahoo !, Citigroup, Bank of America and Cingular. Of course, "Horsham hackers" did the same, only they did it legally, because the companies themselves hired them to find security holes, and between Lamo violate the law.

Hacking network of The New York Times drew attention to it. For this the court appointed him a fine of $ 65 000 dollars in compensation. And, besides, he was sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years probation. Trial period expired in January 2007 and now Lamo is known as a lecturer and journalist.



Jonathan James (Jonathan James)

When Jonathan was 16 years old, his name became widely known thanks to the fact that he was the first minor who sent to prison for "hacking". Later, he said he was just fooling around and he likes challenges.

James cracked a serious organization, including the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which is part of the US Department of Defense. After that, he gained access to usernames and passwords, as well as the ability to view confidential information.

The biggest "success" James began hacking the network of NASA and stealing software worth more than $ 1, 5 million. According to the US Department of Justice "software stolen by James manages the ISS life-support system, including the control of temperature and humidity in the living compartments." After the discovery of hacking, NASA was forced to shut down the system to test and bring into operation, at a cost to taxpayers of $ 41,000. Today, James is going to open a company to ensure computer security.



Robert Tappan Morris (Robert Tappan Morris)

Morris is the son of a scientist working in the US National Security Agency, named Robert Morris. He is the creator of the Morris worm. This worm is the first computer worm that spreads via the Internet. He was the first person who was accused of "computer fraud and abuse of rights" in 1986.

Morris created the worm, when he was in Korenllskom University, and said that he did so only in order to learn how at that time the Internet has grown. A worm between uncontrollably began to multiply and spread throughout the network with great speed, cutting off many computers and even leading them into complete disrepair. Experts say that more than 6000 computers were destroyed. Morris was sentenced to 3 years probation, 400 hours of community service and ordered to pay a fine of 10,500 dollars.

Morris is now a tenured professor at MIT in the laboratory, "Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence." His specialty - the architecture of computer networks.



Kevin Poulsen (Kevin Poulsen)
Paulsen often referred to as Dark Dante (Dark Dante). After the hacking of telephone lines for Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM learned about it all the United States. At the same time, he made enough money to buy a Porsche and many other positive things.

The FBI took over the search for Paulsen after he hacked into their database and gained access to classified information about wiretapping. Paulsen specialized in telephone lines, and he often hacked phone stations. In addition, he restored the phone numbers for his friend, who was the owner of a virtual escort agency. Case Paulsen moved into the category of unsolved, but he still was caught and sentenced to 5 years.

After Paulsen was released from prison, he worked as a journalist, and later was promoted to the post of chief editor of Wired News.