Jack Sparrow
Today we will talk about some dangerous hackers who have done some terrible things in history. A computer hacker is any skilled computer expert that uses their technical knowledge to overcome a problem. A bad hacker is also a skilled computer expert but uses their knowledge to create problems. Here are the 10 most dangerous hackers in history.
10: Jonathan James
At the age of 15, child prodigy Johnathan James packed into basically everything he could, from the Florida based Miami-Dade School system to the US defense threat reduction agency, which was supposed to protect the country from weapons of mass destruction. He even found a way into NASA systems, stealing $1.7 million worth of software, which could control the physical environment of the international space station. As a result, NASA was forced to shut down the system for 3 weeks, which cost $41000.
This national security breach wasn’t taken lightly, and in 2000, James was arrested and convicted on two counts of juvenile delinquency. His Sentence? Six months’ house arrest, probation until the age of 18, and a written letter of apology to NASA. He was on the government’s radar from then on, and in 2008, James’ house was raided when he was suspected of taking part in another series of hacks. But the possibility of being jailed for a crime he claimed he hadn’t committed, evidently spooked James and he killed himself, despite not having actually been arrested for the crime.
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9: Matthew Bevan and Richard Pryce (Dangerous Hackers)
A mentor is supposed to take you under their wing and show you the ways of the world. But instead, 16-year-old Richard Pryce was shown the dark side of the matrix, when he and his 21-year-old mentor, Matthew Bevin committed a series of hacks against government agencies. Together, they hacked the US Air Force, NASA (again), and NATO, copying battlefield simulations and trying to find evidence of ufos.
In addition, the pair Hacked into the Korean atomic research institute database and copied the information on to the US Air Force systems. The U. S. didn’t know who’d given the information and were concerned that if North Korea found out, they can accuse them of spying and potentially threaten war in return. Luckily the data was South Korean, meaning any potential tension could have been easily de-escalated. The pair got off lightly, with the price being fined $1500. By the time, Bevan’s case came to court, the lack of evidence against him led to a full acquittal.
