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Who are the most famous international hackers and why
Hello and thank you for using Wonder! I understand that you want to compile a list of the most infamous hackers. In short, I used several lists from renowned news agencies such as Telegraph, Business Insider, and Concept, as well as IT websites such as MUO, IT security, Hacked, and Techworm. I determined that the top 5 hackers are Adrian Lamo, Kevin Mitnick, Albert Gonzalez, Vladimir Levin and ASTRA.
In order to better answer your question I have broken down the request in several parts: methodology, the hackers, honorable mentions, and conclusion.
METHODOLOGY
I first began searching for scandals involving hackers that were reported on a renown news sites such as the New York Times, Telegraph, The Washington post, etc. I was able to find several articles that mentioned and briefly described the felonies and the magnitude of some of the most famous hackers' attacks. I was also able to find information about some of the biggest hacking attacks on more IT specialized websites. As such, I examined articles from Telegraph, Business Insider, Concept, MUO, IT security, Hacked, and Techworm. After examining the lists, I noticed that there were roughly 10 hackers that were constantly being mentioned. I examined each and everyone individually in order to find the 5 most notorious hackers. I used 3 main criteria to determine their place in the list:
1. The organization they hacked and what they stole
2. The magnitude and impact of their action
3. The method they used.
THE HACKERS
As you may already know, there are two types of hackers: black-hat hackers (people who commit a cyber crime) and white-hat hackers (an example is people who offer their expertise to test the security of a website). All of the hackers on my list are black hat hackers. However, some of them have either done or are presently engaged in white hacking activities.
Threat: Adrian Lamo used to be a white hat hacker. Until 2002, he would try to break into computer systems of companies in order to help them fortify their own systems. In February 2002, he hacked the New York Times website through a badly configured proxy server. He was able to obtain the private information of 3000 contributors. He was also able to modify confidential databases and add himself to their internal database and conducted his own research using an outdated password of one of the editors of New York Times.
Impact: The hacking played a huge role in undermining the credibility of the New York times. On top of that, all of the information of the contributors was exposed to the public which increased the risk and chance of their identities being stolen. On top of that, the revealed contacts ended up losing a lot of business dues to the leak and the increased mistrust of the New York Times.
Adrian Lamo was apprehended in 2003 and sentenced to 6 months home detention and an additional 2 years of probation. He was also obliged to pay $65 000 to the New York Times for the damage he caused.
Threat: Kevin Mitnick, throughout his years of hacking, was able
to break into some of the most guarded databases for their time. His exploits included companies from the magnitude of Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola, Netcom, Nokia, and even McDonalds. His biggest accomplishment was hacking the FBI database and even wire tapping their communications which violated the confidentiality promise by FBI and the right for a person to remain anonymous. He was considered the most-wanted computer criminal in the country by the authorities at the beginning of the 21st century.
Impact: By wire taping the FBI's communication he undermined FBI's authority and violated a person's right to remain anonymous. His advanced skills allowed him to follow every call that the FBI made which allowed him to stay one step ahead of the FBI at all time. He was also able to follow every report that the FBI made, giving him information on who was making the report and who the report was made for which undermined FBI's operations and in some cases had the potential to endanger the lives of their agents. Before that, he allegedly stole over 20 000 credit accounts.
Kevin Mitnick was caught with the help of hacker Tsutomu Shimomura whose personal computer was hacked by Mitnik. He was caught in 1995 and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment with additional 2 years under supervision. Presently, he owns and runs a security company which specializes in testing and reinforcing companies' networks.
Threat: Albert Gonzalez is a hacker that specialized in identity theft and stealing credit card information. He was also a moderator and a member of the website Shadowcrew. The website specialized in trafficking card accounts and providing tips on vulnerable banks and stores and effective e-mail scams. He was first noticed by the authorities after he was caught taking money out of an ATM using fake bank cards. What's most impressive about Albert Gonzalez is that he was collaborating with the FBI while at the same time using the protective custody to help his associates in Shadowcrew. His methods involved hacking the wireless network of a corporation through a technique called "war driving". The technique involved hacking of the WiFi network of a store or a corporation while sitting in their parking lot and using a laptop and powerful radio antennas. According to his testimony, he could get into a billion dollar company's network in several minutes. He also hacked several commerce websites through the SQLs or Structured Query Languages which is a programming language that enables commercial Web sites to interact with their associated databases.
Impact: Before he was first caught, Gonzalez stole the information of numerous credit accounts which amounted to over $4.3 million. After he was caught by the police and later on placed under the protective custody of the FBI, he hacked and was an accomplice in the hacking of OfficeMax, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Dave & Buster’s restaurants, the T. J. Maxx and Marshalls clothing chains, Target, Barnes & Noble, JCPenney, Sports Authority, Boston Market and 7-Eleven’s bank-machine network. The total amount of money that Gonzalez and the Shadowcrew stole amounted to $180 million with information linked to more than 40 million cards.
Gonzalez was caught in 2007 and sentenced to 20 years of prison time in 2009. Until today, this remains the longest prison time for a cyber criminal that has ever been convicted.
Threat: Vladimir Levin is a Russian citizen who was the first hacker to ever lead a group to bank robbery over a network. The most impressive feet of Levin's operation was that in order to commit the robbery he hacked and wired the phones of Citibank's customer, information for which he obtained by breaking into Citibank's information database, through which he obtained their credit account information. He then used the information to withdraw over $5 million. All of the accounts that Levin hit were non-encrypted cash management accounts, designed to be used by corporate customers in order to transfer money between accounts
Impact: Due to the major hacking of the Citibank's database, the bank lost a number of customers along with their top 20 earners. The reputation of the Citibank was destroyed and for the first time, it was shown that banking systems weren't as unbreakable as they seemed. To top it off, only a meager $400 000 out of the $5 million were recovered by the FBI's investigation. On the other hand, after that incident, Citicorp and other major banks around the world started implementing a unique credit-card-like pass smart card which was encoded with a unique to the user electronic signature.
Vladimir Levin was caught and convicted to 3 years in prison in 1998 and ordered to pay $240 000 back to the bank. He allegedly disappeared right after his release and his whereabouts today are unknown
Threat: Astra is a 58 years old Greek mathematician and hacker who was convicted of stealing classified information from the French aviation company Dassault Group for a duration of over 5 years. His method was using the holes that Dassault Group opened in their firewalls for their partners. As such, Astra would exploit the weakness in Dassault's firewall, gain control over their partner's domain and gather information about military projects, aviation plans, and information on other products that were available through Dussault. He, then, contacted buyers all around Europe and the Middle east and sold the plans for over $1000 a piece.
Impact: Dussault Group reported losses of over $360 million directly resulting from Astra's actions. Since the attack, Dassault Group was forced to rebuild their monitoring system in a way that they can monitor the firewall holes that are left for their partners. This has also served as a wake-up call to many of the military providers to strengthen their network and firewall differences in order to avoid a similar situation to Dassault Group. Moreover, Astra's actions directly fueled criminal organizations around the world since Dassault's main production comes from both private and military aircraft such as the Rafale and Mirage jet fighters. He allegedly had over 250 clients in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa and several of the Middle East states.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Gary McKinnon - He gained access to over 97 military and government-owned websites leaving the famous note on their wall: “Your Security is Crap”.
Anonymous - An organization of hackers turned online vigilantes that throughout the years has targeted high-profile institutions such as Paypal, the Church of Scientology, the KKK and others. Their motto states: “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”
Jonathan James - He is most famous for hacking NASA's database and gaining access to the source code responsible for operating the International Space Station. The breach caused NASA to shut down their operations for a week which cost them over $41 000. He was also the first juvenile to be convicted and jailed for hacking.
Stephen Wozniak - The famous Apple co-founder used to be a white-hat hacker engaged in phone phreaking which technically allowed him to bypass the phone system and enable free long-distance phone calls for him and his friends.
Robert Tappan Morris - He is the creator of the first-ever worm to be unleashed on the internet. It is estimated that the worm affected over 6000 computers at the time. As such, Morris became the first person to ever be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I provided you with brief analysis on the top 5 most famous hackers using articles from Telegraph, Business Insider, Concept, MUO, IT security, Hacked, and Techworm. I also provided you with an additional 5 hackers who have distinguished themselves in one way or another.
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