5 Notorious Hackers & Their Crimes

Hackers Or Security Experts Exposing Flaws?

Cyber security is an emerging and rapidly growing industry. Once thought as highly unnecessary by large corporations, it is now a major focus point for every companies IT group. There have been a handful of hackers around the globe that have helped expedite the need for cyber security. They have targeted large corporations, government agencies, and even military secrets. Below we discuss 5 of the most popular hackers of our time.

1) Jonathan James: At the ripe age of 15, Jonathan James was considered a child prodigy of the hacking world. He had hacked into everything from the Miami-Dade County School systems to NASA. At one point he stole $1.7 million dollars worth of software from NASA that could control the physical environment of the  international space station, resulting in NASA shutting down some of their systems for three weeks. He would eventually trigger authorities after hacking into the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a wing of the Department of Defense responsible for protecting the country from weapons of mass destruction. At the age of 16, his home was raided by the Pinecrest Police Department, as well as agents from the DoD and NASA.

Jonathan James was sentenced to house arrest and probation until the age of 18, without the ability to use computers for recreational purposes. After a failed drug test, he served 6 months in prison. After being on the government’s radar and questioned for jobs he was believed possibly involved with, Jonathan committed suicide at the age of 24 by shooting himself in the head. 

2) Edward Majerczyk: In the fall of 2014 every teenager’s dream came true. A treasure cove of pictures of naked female celebrities. Otherwise known as the Fappening or Celebgate, almost 500 private pictures were posted on 4chan. Edward was able to  hack into the iCloud and Gmail accounts of many celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence for personal use. By using simple phishing scams, he was able to retrieve the passwords to many of the accounts, granting him access. In September of 2016, he was convicted of invasion of privacy and it is believed he will serve a 9-month sentence.

3) Gary McKinnon: Responsible for the biggest military hack of all time, Gary McKinnon hacked into 97 military and NASA computers from 2002 to 2003 from his girlfriend’s house in London using the alias “SOLO”. In one instance, he caused 2,000 computers on a network to be shut down, deleting important weapons logs and files. The original intention of Gary was to discover once and for all if there is an alien cover up or proof of UFO’s. This led him to expose the US Military of it’s security flaws, at one point even leaving behind a message stating “Your Security Is Crap”. The United States requested that the Scottish sys admin be extradited for nearly a decade. In 2012, Home Secretary Theresa May withdrew the request for extradition. In interviews with Gary, he confirmed that he found proof of UFO’s and an alien cover up.

4) Karl Koch: When you think of computer hackers, it is rare to imagine this occurring as early as the 80s. But during the cold war, German Karl Koch was a member of the hacking group “The Computer Chaos Club”. Karl and his group would tap into American Government computer systems to steal information, to then sell it to the Soviet Union’s KGB. Targeted were NASA, the US Chief of Staff’s data bank, and the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics. In 1989, Western Germany discovered the Computer Chaos Club and charged them with espionage. In return for not being prosecuted, Koch cooperated with the authorities. Soon after the confession, Koch was found burnt to death in a forest in Celle, Germany. It is believed he was killed by the German State or the KGB to prevent further leaking of information.

5) Albert Gonzalez: Born in Cuba, Albert Gonzalez’s family immigrated to Miami in the 1980s, where he received his first computer at the age of 8. It’s hard to imagine that these humble beginnings would lead him to become the notorious ringleader of Operation Get Rich or Die Trying. In the largest credit card fraud of all time, Albert is the mastermind behind stealing over 170 million credit card and ATM numbers from 2005 thru 2007.

Known for throwing a $75,000 birthday party and counting over $340,000 in cash after his counting machine broke, Albert used SQL injections to deploy backdoors that launch packet sniffing attacks. He victimized stores such as BJ’s Wholesale Club, DSW, Office Max, Dave & Busters, Boston Market, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority and T.J. Maxx by using remarkably simple techniques. He would wardrive down US1 in Miami, looking for WIFI vulnerabilities that he can exploit and infiltrate. In his earlier days, he was also an admin for the site Shadowcrew, which served as an auction house for stolen credit card data. He would be arrested at the National Hotel in Miami Beach, with police seizing over $1.6 million dollars at his parents house along with a Glock pistol. He is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.