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Famous Hackers

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were early hackers who helped pioneer personal computing through their creation of Apple Computers. Their early exploits resembled malicious hacking but they later focused their efforts on developing computer hardware and software. Linus Torvalds created the popular open source operating system Linux and has promoted open source software development. Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project and promotes free and open source software. On the other end of the spectrum, some famous black hat hackers include Jonathan James, the first juvenile hacker sentenced to prison, and Kevin Mitnick who gained notoriety for allegedly hacking into NORAD and other high-profile systems.

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Mageshwari Dharaneeswaran
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142 views2 pages

Famous Hackers

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were early hackers who helped pioneer personal computing through their creation of Apple Computers. Their early exploits resembled malicious hacking but they later focused their efforts on developing computer hardware and software. Linus Torvalds created the popular open source operating system Linux and has promoted open source software development. Richard Stallman founded the GNU Project and promotes free and open source software. On the other end of the spectrum, some famous black hat hackers include Jonathan James, the first juvenile hacker sentenced to prison, and Kevin Mitnick who gained notoriety for allegedly hacking into NORAD and other high-profile systems.

Uploaded by

Mageshwari Dharaneeswaran
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Famous Hackers

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founders of Apple Computers,


are both hackers. Some of their early exploits even resemble the
questionable activities of some malicious hackers. However,
both Jobs and Wozniak outgrew their malicious behavior and
began concentrating on creating computer hardware and
software. Their efforts helped usher in the age of the personal
computer -- before Apple, computer systems remained the
property of large corporations, too expensive and cumbersome
for average consumers.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, is another famous honest
Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple
hacker. His open source operating system is very popular with and pioneer hacker
other hackers. He has helped promote the concept of open source
software, showing that when you open information up to
everyone, you can reap amazing benefits.

Richard Stallman, also known as "rms," founded the GNU Project, a free operating system. He
promotes the concept of free software and computer access. He works with organizations like the
Free Software Foundation and opposes policies like Digital Rights Management.

On the other end of the spectrum are the black hats of the hacking world. At the age of 16,
Jonathan James became the first juvenile hacker to get sent to prison. He committed computer
intrusions on some very high-profile victims, including NASA and a Defense Threat Reduction
Agency server. Online, Jonathan used the nickname (called a handle) "c0mrade." Originally
sentenced to house arrest, James was sent to prison when he violated parole.

Greg Finley/Getty Images


Hacker Kevin Mitnick, newly released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California.
Kevin Mitnick gained notoriety in the 1980s as a hacker who allegedly broke into the North
American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) when he was 17 years old. Mitnick's
reputation seemed to grow with every retelling of his exploits, eventually leading to the rumor
that Mitnick had made the FBI's Most Wanted list. In reality, Mitnick was arrested several times
for hacking into secure systems, usually to gain access to powerful computer software.

Kevin Poulsen, or Dark Dante, specialized in hacking phone systems. He's famous for hacking
the phones of a radio station called KIIS-FM. Poulsen's hack allowed only calls originating from
his house to make it through to the station, allowing him to win in various radio contests. Since
then, he has turned over a new leaf, and now he's famous for being a senior editor at Wired
magazine.

Adrian Lamo hacked into computer systems using computers at libraries and Internet cafes. He
would explore high-profile systems for security flaws, exploit the flaws to hack into the system,
and then send a message to the corresponding company, letting them know about the security
flaw. Unfortunately for Lamo, he was doing this on his own time rather than as a paid consultant
-- his activities were illegal. He also snooped around a lot, reading sensitive information and
giving himself access to confidential material. He was caught after breaking into the computer
system belonging to the New York Times.

It's likely that there are thousands of hackers active online today, but an accurate count is
impossible. Many hackers don't really know what they are doing -- they're just using dangerous
tools they don't completely understand. Others know what they're doing so well that they can slip
in and out of systems without anyone ever knowing.

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