Hackers Beyond the Technology

Every day you hear about threats on the internet. Viruses,malware, cyber crime and phishing are words that Internet usersare too frightened of them. The term hacker is all more frightening. Users arealways afraid of this word. Some users think that hackers are always playing anegative role in computer world, but it is not true. The computer world wasalways full of computer hackers, who have guided and shaped the development oftoday’s computer science, Internet and network. Hackers are of tow types; WhiteHat and Black Hat. Hackers are people who actually use the computer at a higherlevel than the ordinary users. They are specialists in computer system and havethe ability to take control of system. This is itself is not a bad thing but ifthey use their ability to exploit others, then we can call it a cyber crime.

White Hats are those hackers who use their skill to improvethe computer science and Black Hats are refer to those who use their knowledgeto spy on users, take control of their system, steal their bank accountinformation etc. now let me introduce you the 10 famous hackers who have madehistory in computer word.

Knard Zuse

Knard Zuse can be the first hacker in computer history. Thework he has done with the meaning of being a hacker does not fit. But if hedidn’t exist then the today modern hackers also did not exist. He created theworld’s first computer with ability to be control with programming languages,or some say completed. This computer was called Z3. The first computer that hemade was Z1 that was not capable of programming. He built this system in theapartment that he lived with his family in 1983. Later with German government support,he could create a revolution from Z1 to Z3. Z3 was built in 1941 and it is thefather of modern computers.

John Draper (Captain Kranch)

He was the one who was hacking personal computers beforesuch devices became available to all today. John Draper also known as CaptainKranch is an American computer programmer and former phone phreak. He is amongthe hackers of the early 1970s when the telephone system was controlled bylargest computer network. At that time telephone systems were controlled with aspecial system that used special analog frequencies. Captain Kranch was able todone one of the largest Phreaking (hacking the call communication systems andtelecommunications is called Preaking). He used a whistle toys that were insidethe Corn Flex boxes. He made a device with these whistles that called Blue Box.This device had ability to reproduce the same frequency that had been used by communicationsystem for transmitting call. Draper, with the production of this device hackedthe telecommunication system and established his name among great hackers.

Steve Wozniak (Woz)

Steve Wozniak was familiar with Phreaking. He is a PolishAmerican computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple computer, Co withthe late CEO Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. He is also sometimes referred to asthe Wonderful Wizard of Woz and iWoz. Woz (Wheels of Zeus) is also the name ofa company Wozniak founded. After Draper explained the working of Blue Box inthe Homebrew Computer Club meeting, Wozniak used this device to construct itsown version. Meanwhile, Steve Jobs also saw the market pull for such applicantsare high, so both of them started investment for this device.

Steve Wozniak can be classified among the White hat hackers.He and Steve Jobs with selling Blue Boxes and Wozniak favorite HP calculatorand Steve Jobs Volkswagen Van, built the first Apple computer that called itApple I. Excellent advices that help them with marketing, they went so far thatApple considered as today’s leading and most popular computer manufacturer.

Robert Tappan Morris

As a Cornell University graduate student, Robert Morris createdthe Morris Worm in 1988, considered the first computer worm on the Internet andhe is the first person convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Heclaimed the he had been tried to produce a worm to find out how large theInternet really is.

In November 1988, Morris worm was first entered into about 6thousand computers (about 10% of Internet connected computers at the time). Theworm seemed very safe, but due to its repeated failures in the algorithm, itwas making many copies of itself. This worm was slowing down the load up of thevictim computer. The worm was programmed to check each computer it found todetermine if the infection was already present. He released the worm from MITto conceal the fact that it actually originated from Cornell. In 1988, he wasthe first person that was arrested for misuse of computer programs.

Mark Abene (Phiber Optics)

Mark Abene, is a computer security hacker from New York City.He never left the United States Department of Defense, did not hack onto anycomputer system and has not robbed a bank through computer. The cause of hisfame was hit on AT&T. Abene as a member of Master of Destruction hackinggroup and Legion of Doom, cause disruption in AT&T telecommunication system.After hacking the AT&T, more than 60 thousand telephone users were not ableto make phone calls for 9 consecutive hours. Immediately after that the AmericaSecret Service arrested him and seized his equipment. AT&T announced thatit was their fault, but the Abene was charged with first degree and wassentenced to a year in federal prison. This incident brought the world fame as thefirst hacker for Mark Abene.

Kevin Poulsen(Dark Dante)

Kevin Poulsen has done one of the most interesting hacks. Heis a former black hat cracker and he is currently News Editor at Wired.com. LosAngeles radio station KIIS-FM had promised a Porsche 944 S2 for hundred andsecond caller. He has done most famous and most interesting hack to be 102ranks among the all participants in the radio program. He hacked the LosAngeles radio station’s phone lines and took control of all incoming calls tobe sure he will be the 102 caller. When the FBI prosecuted him, he was forcedto flee and hide. But when a famous TV show called Unsolved Mysteries wasstreaming live, he crashed all telephone lines during the program. Finally in1991 he was arrested for computer fraud, money laundering and obstruction ofjustice and was sentenced to 51 month in prison and ordered to pay $56,000 inrestitution. At the time, it was the longest sentence ever given for cracking.

Curiously, he did not stay idle during his imprisonment andstarted cooperate with FBI. He helped the police in 180 cases of cyber crimes andeven hunted down some sexual predators on social networks MySpace.

Kevin Mitnick

Kevin Mitnick is one of the famous hackers in computerscience history. He is a computer security consultant, author and hacker. He isthe one of the first person that became on the list of FBI wanted criminalsbecause of various computer and communication related crimes. As an expert insocial engineering, Mitnick just was not attacking users’ computer, but alsotheir minds. In 1979, at age 16, he did his first hack by hacking a companycomputers system and copying its software. He contacted employees of differentcompanies through phone or email and pulled their passwords and securityinformation under their tongues.

At age 43, Mitnick used social engineering to bypass thepunched system used in the Los Angeles bus system. Social engineering becamehis primary method of obtaining information, including user names and passwordsand modem phone numbers. He was arrested and sentenced to prison for 5 years.His crimes were disruption in telephone networks, computer networks and stealingsoftware. Now, he has launched his own business and security consultant company‘Mitnick Security Consulting’.

Tsutomu Shimomura

Tsutomu Shimomura can be classified among the white hathackers. He is a Japanese scientist and computer security expert. In 1994,Kevin Mitnick hacked his system and stole his personal file. Revenge became amotive for Shimomura to using online tracking and finds Kevin. He became aninstant celebrity when he, together with computer journalist John Markoff,tracked down and helped the FBI arrest Mitnick. Shimomura and John Markoff wrota book, Takedown, about the pursuit and the book was later adapted into a movieof the same name.

Richard Saltman (rms)

Richard Saltman is an American software freedom activist andcomputer programmer. In 1971 he became a programmer at the MIT Artificial IntelligenceLaboratory. It was there that that he met the true meaning of hacking. He isone of the supporters of open source applications and operating systems. When MITwas setting passwords for its students and staff, Saltman started a virtual warwith MIT and began to decrypt user passwords and send their passwords by emailwith empty subject to the users.

In 1980 he was upset with those companies who producingsoftware and held the copyright for their products. This led him to bring theGNU operating system. In 1983, he launched the GNU project to create a freeUnix-like operating system. With the launch of the GNU project, he initiatedthe free software movement.

Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvals is another white hat hacker. He is a softwareengineer and hacker and developer of the open source Linux Kernel. He alsocreated the Revision Control system Git. He began his hacking activities with old Commodores VIC-20 and SinclairQL. He hacked the video games to get the information about their performance.

In 1991, he purchased a computer with an Intel 80386processor and start writhing Linux kernel. He first founded Linux under arestrictive license, but later he extended under the GNU GPL license. Torvaldsdid not consistently support the kernel of the Linux, but due to the nature ofopen source operating system and its free distribution, the Linux grew andeventually became one of the most popular operating systems. Red Hat and VALinux, both leading developers of Linux-based software, presented Torvalds withstock options in gratitude for his creation.

His personal lucky charm is a penguin nicknamed Tux, whichhas been widely adopted by the Linux community as the mascot of the LinuxKernel.