Cyber Security - Famous Hackers

Cyber Security - Famous Hackers

Jonathan James

          Jonathan James was an American hacker, known as the first juvenile sent to prison for cyber crime in United States. He was born on December 12, 1983. He enjoyed using computers since he was 6 years old. When he was in high school, he used to delete Windows from his home computer to install Linux on it. In 1999, Jonathan at the age of 15 managed to break NASA security and accessed 13 computers. With these computers he had stolen software and information worth $ 1.7 million. It causes  a 21-day shutdown of NASA computers that supports the international space station. This cost them $ 41,000 in repairs and losses. Jonathan was known on the internet as “C0mrade”.

           Later it would be discovered that ‘C0mrade’ stolen the source code that controlled critical elements of survival within the International Space Station. According to NASA, this software helps to control temperature and humidity within the ISS, as well as some other important elements of the physical environment. Because of the above, NASA made the decision to turn off everything and rewrite part of the source code, to reinforce the security of their software. Since he was under 18, sent to Alabama Juvenile Correctional Center for a period of 6 months. By August 1999, he breached the systems of the telecommunications company BellSouth, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and the Miami-Dade school system. Later, intruded into Department of Defense of the United States in the Pentagon. He become the first person in the world to crack the DOD by entering the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) system. He found a backdoor on one of the servers, where he installed a sniffer that allowed him to spy on thousands of calls and messages that allowed him to obtain usernames and passwords that gave him access to 10 military computers.

               On January 17, 2007, one of the largest computer attacks in the United States were released. It was initiated by Albert Gonzalez. During the investigations, the names of several hackers who would have collaborated with González, were related with Jonathan James. Even his family member can’t find a connection or clues to Jonathan’s collaboration in the attack. On May 18, 2008, Jonathan, 25, was found dead in his house with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the head. Jonathan wrote in his suicide note, "I have no faith in the 'justice' system. I honestly, honestly had nothing to do with TJX. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public. Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control."

Albert Gonzalez                                                 

                 Albert Gonzalez is an American  hacker and a cyber criminal who is accused for the theft of credit and ATM card numbers with a group of hackers named as ShadowCrew group. Around 4,000 people were registered with the Shadowcrew.com website. Once registered, they could buy stolen account numbers and other objects of identity theft like passports, drivers’ licenses, Social Security cards, credit cards, debit cards, birth certificates, college student identification cards, and health insurance cards. The investigators believed that up to $4.3 million was stolen credit /debit card numbers, as ShadowCrew shared its information with other groups like Carderplanet and Darkprofits. Later, he hacked TJX Companies, in which 45.6 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen over an 18-month period ending in 2007, which is greater than 2005 breach of 40 million records at CardSystems Solutions. He was known as “soupnazi” in the internet which became a secret service informant after he was arrested for hacking.

             In September 2007, About 5,000 card numbers were stolen. Fraudulent transactions of $600,000 were reported on 675 of the cards in total. Gonzalez was arrested on May 7, 2008 in room 1508 at the National Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. The authorities seized $1.6 million in cash including $1.1 million buried in plastic bags in a three-foot drum in his parents' backyard, his laptops and a compact Glock pistol. In addition to this cash, they seized Gonzalez's Miami condominium, a BMW car, a Glock 27 firearm, a currency counter, a Tiffany diamond ring given to his former fiance and three Rolex watches that Gonzalez gave to his father and others as gifts. He was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he started heartland payment system hack. In Heartland attack, 130 million card numbers were stolen. Around $12.6 million is lost in the attack including legal fees. Gonzalez named the scheme as “Operation Get Rich or Die Tryin”. Using SQL injection, this famous hacker and his team created backdoors in several corporate networks and stole an estimated $256 million from TJX alone. The 20 years of prison for the largest computer-crime till date in United States for hacking or identity-theft. Gonzalez was also fined $25,000. Later, he regrets his crime and said “I blame nobody but myself”. He helped US government to find other hackers.

           According to the New York Daily News, Gonzalez, dubbed "soupnazi," got his start as the "troubled pack leader of computer nerds" at his Miami high school. He eventually became active on criminal commerce site Shadowcrew.com and was considered one of its best hackers and moderators. At 22, Gonzalez was arrested in New York for debit card fraud related to stealing data from millions of card accounts. To avoid jail time, he became an informant for the Secret Service, ultimately helping indict dozens of Shadowcrew members.

              During his time as a paid informant, Gonzalez, along with a group of accomplices, continued his criminal activities and stole more than 180 million payment card accounts from companies including OfficeMax, Dave and Buster's and Boston Market. The New York Times Magazine notes that Gonzalez's 2005 attack on US retailer TJX was the first serial data breach of credit information. Using SQL injection, this famous hacker and his team created back doors in several corporate networks and stole an estimated $256 million from TJX alone. During his sentencing in 2015, the federal prosecutor called Gonzalez's human victimization "unparalleled."