History OF Hacking
OK so this is my first blog , so i thought why i dont start with something i always wanted to share
For the groundwork Hacking refers activities that seek to compromise digital devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and even entire networks. So how far we should blast ourselves into the past?
Well the first "Computer" was Designed by Charles Babbage in 1822 , he also designed 2 more computer but they were never finished due to lack of funding , So we are definetly not looking past 1822 also his "computer" was more mechanical than electrical
So, how about a electromechanical computer made by US NAVY or mechanical calculator made by Konard Zuse or Alan Turning's the Colossus computer and many more computers (the problem with all of these ancient computers is that ,they never
worked in any similar way our computer worked so it off course cannot be
"hacked" the same way) started developing rapidly which bring us to François Gernelle inventing the Micral N, the world’s first “personal computer” in 1973, The rise of the World Wide Web in the mid-1980s set off a boom in monetised hacking thus in the 1980s, hacking reached the peak of seriousness which bring us to our First modern day hacking by
Kevin Mitnick who broke into his first major computer system, the Ark, the computer system Digital Equipment Corporation "Mitnick was charged with wire fraud, possession of unauthorized access devices (8 counts), interception of wire or electronic communications, unauthorized access to a federal computer, and causing damage to a computer."
In 1999, Mitnick pleaded guilty to four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication, as part of a plea agreement before the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison plus 22 months for violating the terms of his 1989 supervised release sentence for computer fraud. but he was later released on jan 21, 2000 and now runs Mitnick Security Consulting LLC, a computer security consultancy and is part owner of KnowBe4, provider of an integrated platform for security awareness training and simulated phishing testing , A happy ending indeed
Our next hacker also has a happy ending and kevin as his first name ,
Kevin Poulsen in 1983 he hacked into ARPANET, the Pentagon’s computer network , at the age of 17 he was caught but govt decided to not arrest just left him on warning , Well warning was not enough for him , he just continued hacking until 1988 when he hacked a federal computer and dug into files pertaining to the deposed president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos , as authorities where behind him , he ran underground where again he continued hacking and winning a Porsche and $20,000.
He was soon arrested and again just barred from using a computer for three years , since that he is converted into a white hat hacker and journalist.
And next on the list is not just 1 guy but a duo ,
Matthew Bevan and Richard Pryce are a team of British hackers who hacked into multiple military networks in 1996, including Griffiss Air Force Base, the Defense Information System Agency and the Korean Atomic Research Institute . Bevan and Pryce have been accused of nearly starting a third world war after they dumped KARI research onto American military systems
Mathew was arrested on June 21, 1996, at the offices of Admiral Insurance where he worked and Pryce had been charged in June 1995, 13 months after his arrest.Now Bevan is an IT consultant and living in Wiltshire he started his own firm on his own "hacker name" called Kuji media, and it is said that Pryce never came back to hacking world.
Finally making it to 2000 , we have
Michael Calce, At age of 15 he discovered how to take over networks of university computers. He used their combined resources to disrupt the number-one search engine at the time: Yahoo. Within one week, he'd also brought down Dell, eBay, CNN and Amazon,
He was indeed arrested and eventually pled guilty to criminal hacking charges. He served time in a group home where he was allowed to attend school and a part-time job, but was otherwise essentially locked in his room .Now like others he works as a security consultant for companies trying to protect their online system
And in the end we have unlike others , a sad case , of a young guy called
Jonathan James at age of 15 he hacked several companies and United States Department of Defense,His hacking allowed him to access over 3,000 messages from government employees, usernames, passwords and other sensitive data. He went on to hack NASA and gained access to a program’s source code which controlled critical elements of life support of the ISS. That forced NASA to shut down its system for 21 days costing them 40,000 dollars
James was arrested in 2000 and was sentenced to a six months house arrest and banned from recreational computer use. However, a probation violation caused him to serve six months in jail. and in In 2007, TJX, a department store, was hacked Despite a lack of evidence, authorities suspect that James may have been involved Some of James‘s colleagues and friends were supposedly members of the gang. The Secret Service agents were on track to uncover the gang.
Secret services agents raided him again for 3rd time on basis of just suspicion also giving problems to his family as he constantly claimed his innocence , He was often anxious in a depressed state following the incidents with the Secret service again. leading up to May 18, 2008 when James was found dead in the bathroom of his home with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from the same rifle that the agents found during the raid. as he said in his suicide note he feared that he will serve time in jail for crimes he did not commit , quoting
“I do not believe in our ‘justice’ system – perhaps my actions today and this letter will be a serious signal to the public, but I have lost control of the situation, and this is my only way to fix it. To be honest, I have nothing to do with this whole TJX story. Even though Chris (Scott) and Albert Gonzales are the most dangerous and destructive hackers the feds have ever caught, I am far more seductive [as a victim] to public opinion than these two random idiots. That is life. Remember, it’s not that you win or lose, but that I personally win or lose by being in prison for 20, 10, or even 5 years for a crime that I didn’t commit. This is my way of winning, but at least I’ll die free. “
And on that sad note , its time for me to say goodbye , hopefully i did well for my first blog
Thanks for Reading