Are you interested in learning about the most notorious hackers to ever drive the innovation of technology or wreak havoc on the world? The media portrays hackers as either high-tech spies such as Tom Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, from the Mission: Impossible series, or as lonely teens looking for a way to amuse themselves.
In all honesty hackers are actually quite an assorted bunch. Hackers have been blamed for many years for billions of dollars worth of damage. On the other hand, hackers are responsible for the creation of the World Wide Web, in addition to founding a number of the major technological companies.
You may be aware that there are two different types of hackers. The black hats make it their mission to take advantage of computer systems any way they can. These are the individuals you see being carried away in handcuffs while federal law enforcement loads up their computers.
Sometimes these hackers, or “black hat crackers” as they are often called, are simply curious and use their ability to keep themselves entertained. Other times, these hackers are out to gain something, such as money, information, etc.
The other group of hackers, the “white hat hackers”, is made up of people who use their advanced hacking skills to do good deeds. This type of hacker is typically hired by some type of big company to test security. Some of these “ethical hackers” are the individuals responsible for the development of some of the greatest technologies that are currently in use.
Let me introduce you to some of the most famous hackers in history:
Tim Berners-Lee is known for his invention of the World Wide Web, which is the same system that we all use today to access websites, files and other documents over the Internet.
Jonathan James became known well because he was the very first juvenile ever to go to prison for the crime of hacking. He was only sixteen-years-old when he received his sentence. He claimed he enjoyed the “challenge” of finding out just what he could do.
Adrian Lamo became known as “the homeless hacker” because he used libraries, coffee shops and stores like Kinko’s to conduct his activities. He is famous for break-ins at key corporations such as Microsoft and The New York Times.
Kevin Mitnick called himself a “hacker poster boy” after a much publicized police pursuit. Stories of Mitnick’s escapades are featured in a couple of movies, “Takedown” and “Freedom Downtime”.
Robert Tappan Morris, son of the former NSA scientist Robert Morris, became famous for the creation of the Morris Worm. This was the first computer worm to make it to the Internet.
Kevin Poulsen, or Dark Dante, became know when he hacked into the phone lines of a radio station in Los Angeles, gaining a new car and much more.
Tsutomu Shimomura actually became famous when he was hacked by the notorious Kevin Mitnick, making it his mission to assist the FBI in his capture.
Richard Stallman gained fame when he founded the GNU Project, developing a free computer operating system.
Linus Torvalds is the brains behind Linux, the popular operating system.
Stephen Wozniak has come to be known as “the other Steve” at Apple. Along with Steve Jobs, Wozniak founded Apple Computer.
Dena White blogs about various criminal justice job issues, including how to study to obtain a degree from online forensic science colleges
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