10 of The Most Notorious Hackers of All Time

pHacker's come in all ages and flavors, and you might be suprised to find that some of the best have gone on to edit magazine's like Wired, or help start multi-billion dollar companies like Apple. If that tidbit just rocked your socks, read on to find out about the ten best hacker of all time (well, until someone else comes along and does better)./p h3 1. Captain Crunch (Proper Name: John Draper)/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 1.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 1.jpg alt= //a/p pJohn Draper became known as Captain Crunch after gaining popularity as the phone phreaker who worked the ATT phone system using toy whistles that came in Cap'n Crunch in the late 60's. A blind friend informed him that the whistle produced a perfect 2600Hrz tone, which allowed Draper to control trunk lines on the phone network./p pWhen phone phreaking became more popular, he was eventually arrested and given five months probation. He went on to work at Apple for a brief period of time, and wrote the first word processor for the Apple II while in a prison work furlough./p h3 2. Kevin Mitnick/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 2.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 2.jpg alt= //a/p p Often regarded as the most notorious hacker, Mitnick has become a role model for many aspiring hackers. Living a life that started as a hacker who would go down in history and now continuing it as a popular speaker, an author, and a computer consultant; in addition, he inspired two movies: emTakedown/em and emFreedom Downtime/em. If that sounds appealing, just remember that at one point Mitnick was wanted by the US Marshals for hacking many places, including the Defense Department, and ended up spending over half a decade in solitary confinement./p h33. Fred Cohen/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 3.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 3.jpg alt= //a/p pThough his paragraph is short, it is in way minor. While a student in engineering school, Cohen wrote on of the first computer viruses, which demonstrated that no anti-virus could detect all possible viruses, and that some viruses are even good./p h3 3. Max Ray Butler/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_main_image 4.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_main_image 4.jpg alt= //a/p pButler--Internet specialist by day, worm creator by night. He created a worm that hacked into Air Force and NASA systems, Brookhaven Labs, IDSoftware, and the Defense Department. He got off the hook for five years by working as an informant for the FBI, but later was arrested after refusing to use a wire tap to entrap a friend who was suspected of performing cyber crimes./p h35. Jonathan James/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 5.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 5.jpg alt= //a/p pJames had the honor (depending on your definition) of being the first minor arrested in the US for cyber crimes. He hacked both NASA and the Department of Defense (are you noticing a trend with these two entities....?) and reportedly stole $1.7 million in software from NASA, and intercepted 3000+ messages from the Department of Defense, including usernames and passwords./p pHad he been a big boy when performing these nefarious hacks, he'd of received a decade in jail. Having been a minor, however, he instead received six months of house arrest. For whatever reason, he violated his parole and ended up serving six months in jail./p h36. Adrian Lamo/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 6.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 6.jpg alt= //a/p pAKA, the homeless hacker. Thing is, he wasn't actually homeless; some say he was called the homeless hacker because his parents moved around a lot during his childhood. Others say he earned that nickname by doing his hacking in wifi hotspots such as cafes. Either way, he would spend his juvenile years hacking into places such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, and other high-profile company doing both authorized and unauthorized vulnerability assessments, then letting said companies know about said vulnerabilities./p pHis undoing came when he hacked into the New York Times system and added his name to a list of experts, granting himself access to the Times LexisNexis account where he then checked out data he wasn't privy to. He was sentenced to six months house arrests at his parents home, and is now an award-winning journalist. Not bad, eh?/p h37. Nahshon Even-Chaim/h3 pThe first big-time hacker to be arrested in Australia, Even-Chaim started his hacking career before the Internet gave way to easier targeting. He'd gain access to different agencies, including government, by dialing in and, after the advent of the Internet, using it to aid in his efforts. He was part of an elite hacking group known as the Realm, which recognized Chaim as both arrogant and skillful. He ended up being arrest, sentenced to 500 hours of community service, and a suspended 12-month prison term./p h38. Jeanson James Ancheta/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 8.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 8.jpg alt= //a/p pHis hacking spree was furious and short-lived. For fourteen months Ancheta gained control over various comprised computers and used them together as one mass network for sending out spam. He made quite a bit of money in his endeavors, but was later sentenced to five years of federal prison, forced to pay $60k, return a BMW, as well as some computer hardware./p h39. Ehud Tenenbaum/h3 p class=img-middle a href=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/9919_image 9.jpg img src=http://media.laptoplogic.com/upload-images/9919/large/9919_image 9.jpg alt= //a/p pTenenbaum is an Israeli hacker who had the just about every defense US government agency freaking out. He hacked NASA, the Pentagon, and Knesset, effectively convincing the government that the attacks were an Iraqi effort. When he was finally discovered, along with two California juvenile hackers known as Mac and Stimpy, he was given 1 year of probation and a suspended two-year prison sentence. Instead of rejoicing over the minor slap on the wrist, he got arrested in Canada for credit card fraud, was forced to serve his sentence, and fined $18k./p h310. Conficker/h3 pSo, nothing actually came of the Conficker scare. The reality still stands that whoever created the worm managed to scare the crap out of thousands of Windows users, and gave many a tech support agent real headaches. The worm reeked havoc on the French Navy system, and made an annoying debut on important British and German networks. Whether an individual or a group is responsible for the worm isn't known. What is known, however, is that if you're running Windows, you better hope you don't get this worm on your system./p