Here is a list of the top 10 hacks of all time.
Early 1990s
Kevin Mitnick, often incorrectly called by many as god of hackers, broke into
the computer systems of the world’s top technology and telecommunications
companies Nokia, Fujitsu, Motorola, and Sun Microsystems. He was arrested by
the FBI in 1995, but later released on parole in 2000. He never termed his
activity hacking, instead he called it social engineering.
November 2002
Englishman Gary McKinnon was arrested in November 2002 following an accusation
that he hacked into more than 90 US military computer systems in the UK. He is
currently undergoing trial in a British court for a “fast-track extradition” to
the US where he is a wanted man. The next hearing in the case is slated for
today.
1995
Russian computer geek Vladimir Levin effected what can easily be called The
Italian Job online – he was the first person to hack into a bank to extract
money. Early 1995, he hacked into Citibank and robbed $10 million. Interpol
arrested him in the UK in 1995, after he had transferred money to his accounts
in the US, Finland, Holland, Germany and Israel.
1990
When a Los Angeles area radio station announced a contest that awarded a
Porsche 944S2 for the 102nd caller, Kevin Poulsen took control of the entire
city’s telephone network, ensured he is the 102nd caller, and took away the
Porsche beauty. He was arrested later that year and sentenced to three years in
prison. He is currently a senior editor at Wired News.
1983
Kevin Poulsen again. A little-known incident when Poulsen, then just a student,
hacked into Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet was hacked into. Arpanet was
a global network of computers, and Poulsen took advantage of a loophole in its
architecture to gain temporary control of the US-wide network.
1996
US hacker Timothy Lloyd planted six lines of malicious software code in the
computer network of Omega Engineering which was a prime supplier of components
for NASA and the US Navy. The code allowed a “logic bomb” to explode that
deleted software running Omega’s manufacturing operations. Omega lost $10
million due to the attack.
1988
Twenty-three-year-old Cornell University graduate Robert Morris unleashed the
first Internet worm on to the world. Morris released 99 lines of code to the
internet as an experiment, but realised that his program infected machines as
it went along. Computers crashed across the US and elsewhere. He was arrested
and sentenced in 1990.
1999
The Melissa virus was the first of its kind to wreak damage on a global scale.
Written by David Smith (then 30), Melissa spread to more than 300 companies
across the world completely destroying their computer networks. Damages
reported amounted to nearly $400 million. Smith was arrested and sentenced to
five years in prison.
2000
MafiaBoy, whose real identity has been kept under wraps because he is a minor,
hacked into some of the largest sites in the world, including eBay, Amazon and
Yahoo between February 6 and Valentine’s Day in 2000. He gained access to 75
computers in 52 networks, and ordered a Denial of Service attack on them. He
was arrested in 2000.
1993
They called themselves Masters of Deception, targeting US phone systems. The
group hacked into the National Security Agency, AT&T, and Bank of America. It
created a system that let them bypass long-distance phone call systems, and
gain access to the pbx of major carriers.
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