The Ten Biggest Legends of the Hacker Universe
- From: Pio Baroja <kaesar30@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 28 May 2007 11:44:15 -0700
In the words of information guru Richard Stallman, "a hacker can be
anyone who enjoys making maximum use of their intelligence, without
the need to cause damage to third persons." But currently, the scope
of activity of "information pirates" goes beyond that of simple
leisure and recreation.
The origin of this practice dates back to the early sixties at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), when students of the
prestigious academic institution challenged each other to create
programs of greater capability than had ever existed. Between now and
then, many things have changed. Hackers' activities fall into many
categories, which explicitly define their actions, all of which are
classified as crimes under the Penal Code.
The crackers are the ones who wreak the most havoc. Set apart from
hackers by ethical and moral principles, basically they specialize in
causing damage. They are famous for robbing information, deactivating
software protection, entering restricted security areas or programming
viruses.
The phreakers are responsible for exploring the farthest reaches of
the telephone networks, using technology to manipulate frequencies.
These telephone hackers get to make free calls to any part of the
world and in more extreme cases, they break into important centres.
In their eagerness to test the limits of the telephone networks, they
get into situations that can put them behind bars. Currently, the
phreakers have also taken aim at mobile phones, wireless technology
and the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).
Also, with the passing of time, new terms have been coined for hacking
methods. The so-called "hacktivism" is one of these. In this case,
hackers employ their knowledge to spread political ideologies,
generally related to freedom of expression and human rights.
With all the technological advances that exist these days, it's
difficult to predict the magnitude these activities will have in the
future. What can be surmised, given hackers' inherent ingenuity for
transcending their own limits, is that new challenges will emerge for
those trying to put a stop to them.
The Ten Biggest Legends of the Hacker Universe
Kevin Mitnick: Known worldwide as the "most famous hacker" and for
having been the first to serve a prison sentence for infiltrating
computer systems. He started dabbling when he was a minor, using the
practice known as phone phreaking. Although he has never worked in
programming, Mitnick is totally convinced that you can cause severe
damage with a telephone and some calls. These days, totally distanced
from his old hobbies and after passing many years behind bars, he
works as a security consultant for multinational companies through his
company "Mitnick Security."
Gary McKinnon: This 41-year-old Scotsman, also known as Solo, is the
perpetrator of what's considered the biggest hack in the history of
computer science - into a military system. Not satisfied with this,
in the years 2001 and 2002, he made a mockery of the information
security of NASA itself and the Pentagon. Currently he is in prison
and prohibited access to a computer with Internet connection.
Vladimir Levin: This Russian biochemist and mathematician was accused
of having committed one of the biggest bank robberies of all times by
means of the cracking technique. From Saint Petersburg, Levin managed
to transfer funds estimated at approximately 10 million dollars from
Citibank in New York to accounts he had opened in distant parts of the
world. He was arrested by INTERPOL in 1995 at Heathrow airport
(England). Although he managed to rob more than 10 million dollars,
he was only sentenced to three years in prison. Currently he is free.
Kevin Poulsen: Today he may be a journalist and collaborates with
authorities to track paedophiles on the Internet, but Poulsen has a
dark past as a cracker and phreaker. The event that brought him the
most notoriety was taking over Los Angeles phone lines in 1990. A
radio station was offering a Porsche as a prize for whoever managed to
be caller number 102. It goes without saying that Poulsen was the
winner of the contest.
Timothy Lloyd: In 1996, information services company Omega, provider
of NASA and the United States Navy, suffered losses of around 10
million dollars. And it was none other than Tim Lloyd, an x-employee
fired some weeks earlier, who was the cause of this financial
disaster. Lloyd left a virtually activated information bomb in the
company's codes, which finally detonated July 31 of that same year.
Robert Morris: Son of one of the forerunners in the creation of the
virus, in 1988 Morris managed to infect no fewer than 6,000 computers
connected to the ArpaNet network (one of the precursors to the
internet) He did it from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and for his criminal activities he earned a four year
prison sentence, which was finally reduced to community service.
David Smith: Not all hackers can boast of creating the virus that
spread the fastest to computers the width and breadth of the globe -
David Smith can. In 1999, the father of the Melissa virus managed to
infect and crash 100,000 email accounts with his malicious creation.
Smith, who was thirty years old at the time, was sentenced and freed
on bail.
MafiaBoy: In February of 2000, many of the most important online
companies in the US, such as eBay, Yahoo and Amazon, suffered a
technical glitch called Denial of Service, which caused a total of
1700 million dollars in losses. But did these sites know that the
perpetrator of the attack was a 16 year-old Canadian who responded to
the alias MafiaBoy? Surely not, although it didn't take them long to
find out, thanks to his bragging about his bad deed to his classmates
at school.
Masters of Deception (MoD): MoD was a New York cyber-gang that reached
its apogee in the early 90s. Under the cover of different aliases,
its biggest attacks involved taking over telephone lines and centres
of the Internet, then still in its infancy. During this time McD
starred in the historic "battles of the hackers," along with other
groups like the Legion of Doom (LoD), as they sought to destroy each
other until the computers couldn't take it anymore.
Richard Stallman: Since the early 80s when he was a hacker
specializing in artificial intelligence, this hippie-looking New
Yorker has been one of the most active militants in favour of free
software. At MIT he firmly opposed the privatization of the software
used by the institute's laboratory, so much so they he created what
today is known as GNU and the concept of CopyLeft. Popular systems
like Linux utilize the GNU mode and Stallman is currently one of the
gurus of software democratization.
By Carlos Cabezas López
Original Article Source
http://www.casoabierto.com/Actualidad/Reportajes/The-Ten-Biggest-Legends-of-the-Hacker-Universe.html
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