What is Hacking?
Hacking is identifying weakness in computer systems or networks to exploit its weaknesses to gain access.
Who is a Hacker? Types of Hackers...
A Hacker is a person who finds and exploits the weakness in computer systems and/or networks to gain access. Hackers are usually skilled computer programmers with knowledge of computer security.
Hackers are classified according to the intent of their actions. The following list classifies hackers according to their intent.
10 Best Hackers The World Has Ever Known world's Most Famous and Best Hackers
1. Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon must’ve been a curious, restless child, to
gain information on UFOs, he thought it better to get direct access into the
channels of NASA. He infiltrated 97 US military and NASA computers, by
installing virus and deleting a few files. All the efforts to satisfy his
curiosity, but, alas, curiosity killed the cat. It was soon found that McKinnon
was guilty of having hacked the military and NASA websites from his
girlfriend’s aunt’s house in London. While entering and deleting the files from
these websites wasn’t enough, McKinnon thought of shaming the security forces
by putting out a notice on the website that said, “Your security is crap.”
Well, looks like McKinnon was something if he could shut down the US
Military’s Washington Network of about 2000 computers for 24 hours, making them
hack, the biggest military computer hack of all time!
2. Albert Gonzalez
How safe is internet banking? When we browse through the profile of this mastermind, we are certain that one ought to use the World Wide Web with immense care. For two long years, Albert Gonzalez stole from credit cards of the netizens. This was recorded to be the biggest credit card theft in the history of mankind. He resold approximately 170 million credit cards and ATM numbers. He did so by installing a sniffer and sniffing out the computer data from internal corporate networks. When arrested, Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in Federal prison.
Albert Gonzalez started off as the leader of a hacker group
called Shadow Crew. In addition to stealing and selling credit card numbers, Shadow The crew also fabricated fraudulent passports, health insurance cards, and birth
certificates for identity theft crimes.
What did he do?
Albert Gonzalez paved his way to internet fame when he
collected more than 170 million credit card and ATM card numbers over a period
of two years. He then hacked into the databases of TJX Companies and Heartland
Payment Systems to steal all of their stored credit card numbers as well.
Where is he now?
Gonzalez was sentenced to prison for 20 years (two sentences
of 20 years to be served simultaneously) and is scheduled for release in 2025.
3. Jonathan James
The first juvenile to be imprisoned for a cyber-crime at the age of 16, Jonathan James or better known as c0mrade, hacked into Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the US department. Further, he installed a sniffer that scrutinized the messages passed on between the DTRA employees. Not only did he keep a check on the messages being passed around, in the process, but he also collected the passwords and usernames and other such vital details of the employees, and further even stole essential software. All this cost NASA to shut down its system and to pay from its pocket $41,000. c0mrade, however, had a bitter ending as James committed suicide in 2008.
What did he do?
James eventually hacked into NASA’s network and downloaded
enough source code (assets equaling $1.7 million at the time) to learn how the
International Space Station worked. NASA had to shut down its network for three
entire weeks while they investigated the breach, costing an additional $41,000.
Where is he now?
In 2007, several high-profile companies fell victim to
numerous malicious network attacks. Even though James denied any involvement,
he was suspected and investigated. In 2008, James committed suicide, believing
he would be convicted of crimes he didn’t commit.
