Hackers are a very interesting social group with a hierarchy. Some hackers run the processes; they are responsible for spreading the most dangerous viruses and astronomical financial and information losses of entire countries. There are hackers on whom the wines fall and who sit in prisons for other people’s crimes, writes ITtrend.
Jonathan James, under the pseudonym”C0mrade”1999, at 15 years old, hacked BellSouth and the Miami-Dade school network, then went on to access the NASA and US Department of Defense database, downloaded software worth $ 1.7 million, as a result for the time had to close the whole network, which cost them in the end $ 41,000. He became the first teenager found guilty of hacking. In 2007, there was a huge wave of computer attacks on the Internet, Jonathan denied his involvement, but was accused of them.
Robert Tappen Morris is famous for having created the first known computer “worm” (warm), for which he was subsequently accused of abusing a computer for fraud. He began writing his “worm” while still studying at Cornell University. According to him, he was just looking for a way to measure the size of the Internet, but because of some logical inconsistencies in the code of the program, a “worm” got into the network, the actions of which led to losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a lot of companies. He served his sentence and now works as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology teacher.
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Gary McKinnon, better known as “Solo”, in 2001-2002. hacked 97 NASA and US Department of Defense computers, removing critical files from them. Losses from his actions amount to approximately $ 700,000. As a British citizen, he escaped the persecution of the US government.
At 12 years old, Kevin Mitnick provided himself with free travel on the backbone of Los Angeles. In 1979, at the age of 16, he penetrated the network of Digital Equipment Corporation and copied some of their software. Kevin spent a year in prison, then escaped and hid from the authorities for two and a half years, hacking computers and cell phones to steal critical information. He was able to listen to FBI cell phones. In the end, Mitnick was caught and convicted. After a while, rumors spread that the hacker recruited US intelligence agencies as a consultant. Today, Kevin Mitnick manages his own company, Mitnick Security Consulting LLC.
George Hotz, known as geohot, is responsible for hacking iPhones and PS3s. By hacking and opening the codes of devices working on iOS, Hotz created a whole subculture of users who prefer to use a more open and customized operating system. This subculture also includes content created by users themselves and even hacked applications.
Then George turned his gaze to the Sony Playstation 3 game console. However, Hotz ran into problems after publishing admin console keys on his website, allowing other users to manipulate the PS3 security system. Sony sued him and won the case.
Jonathan James had a gift for programming. During his time, he was regarded as one of the most dangerous hackers in the United States and in the world at large. Born on December 12, 1983, in Pinecrest, South Florida, Jonathan, at the age of 15 years, hacked NASA and caused a 21-day shutdown of their computers by using a simple Pentium computer. Jonathan used an online name called c0mrade. He stole documents valued at around $1. 7 million, as reported by NASA.
Between August 23 and October 27, 1999, Jonathan went on a hacking spree. He hacked various systems, including those of Bellsouth, the Miami-Dade school system, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency(a branch of the United States Department of Defence), NASA, etc. He was arrested in his home on January 26, 2000, by NASA Department Of Defence agents and Pinecrest Police. Upon interrogation, Jonathan revealed he had installed an unauthorized backdoor in one of the servers in Dulles, VA, which he had used to install a sniffer that gave him access to intercept over 4000 Defense Threat Reduction Agency employees. He also revealed he had obtained source codes belonging to the International Space Station controlling life-sustaining elements.
Due to his age, he could not be thrown into jail; rather, he faced house arrest and a ban on using computers. Jonathan suffered from a horrible depression and, therefore, shot himself dead in his bathroom.
Under the pseudonym cOnrade, in 1999, at the age of 15, he hacked BellSouth and the Miami-Dade school network, then went on to access the NASA and US Department of Defense databases, and then downloaded software for a total price of $1.7 million. Eventually, the authorities had to shut down a whole network for some time, which ultimately cost them a ridiculous $41,000.
Later in the interview, James said, “The code itself was bad … and, of course, it did not cost $ 1.7 million, which they demanded.” In addition, Jonathan also sniffed an unlimited amount of information during the breaking of the Ministry of Defense database, including quite a few personal conversations between employees. He became the first child to be generally blamed for hacking.
The story of James, however, ended tragically. In 2007, a huge wave of computer attacks took place across the web, Jonathan strongly denied his involvement, but was, nevertheless, accused of them and shot himself in 2008. Before the death, the burglar declared that he was not going to answer before the tribunal for the atrocities to which he had no business because he considered it shameful to be accused of such ill-considered, stupid actions.
Robert Tappen Morris – the offspring of the late Robert Morris, who was a co-author of UNIX, worked as a key specialist in the State Center for Computer Security and was, in general, a prestigious figure in the computer world.
James was able to hack into the NASA network and download enough source code to study how the International Space Station works and operates. The total cost of the software downloaded from there was 1.7 million US dollars. To assess the damage, NASA even had to shut down its network for three weeks, which brought NASA an additional 41,000 $ in losses. Here’s how Jonathan told the reporter about the reasons that prompted him to become a hacker and the state of security in the network.
In an interview, he answered the following questions and explained the whole secrets of this case:
Question: What were your reasons for breaking into the networks of the US Department of Defense and NASA, committed back in 1999?
Answer—Well, I read the book Cuckoo’s Egg [Clifford Stoll]. The story described there pushed me to try myself in this matter. In addition, I was much more interested in hacking well-protected government facilities or corporate goals than ordinary private computers. It was a good feeling to know that I had access to the computer of the most powerful military in the world. I’m surprised that my head did not explode from the excess of adrenaline.
Question: What do you think are the most common security holes in software?
Answer – Usually, users are not in a hurry to download and install the latest updates. Users often ignore software update messages, so they often work on vulnerable applications. I guess they do not understand that outdated software is often unreliable because someone has found a way to use it to gain control of the computer. Even after the vendor issues a patch for the new vulnerability, many people still use vulnerable software. Sometimes (probably not as rare as you think), companies do not update their vulnerable software for years because the computer works as it should, and they work on the principle, “If nothing is broken, it’s better not to touch anything.” And here’s another thing: do not use Internet Explorer …
Question: How have hacking tools changed in the last year? What new methods of influence have appeared?
Answer – The tools have become more advanced. In my time, I used a simple sniffer, and all the selected passwords were dumped into a text file. Now hackers have tools like Ettercap and Cain & Abel, with them you can do all sorts of crazy stuff. Anti-malware is more advanced and widely used, and now there are even viruses that install the antivirus themselves to destroy other viruses in the system. But, the technique has not changed much: find a hole and use vulnerability in any possible form. Technologies will certainly develop. But, like any complex system, they will always be vulnerable to something.
Whatever it was, history with James is a rather tragic ending. In 2007, many companies working with high technologies fell victim to a massive wave of malicious network attacks. Even though James denied any involvement in them, he was suspected of this and was charged with it at the trial. In 2008, James committed suicide (shot himself), believing that he would be convicted of crimes that he did not commit.
