Black hat Crackers are hackers that are known as "black hats". What they try to do is find weaknesses in computer systems. Black hat crackers are the hacker who are always being arrested. Most of the time their goal is just to get enjoyment out of it, but others may be looking for personal gain. White hat hackers are the opposites of the black hat hackers. They use their skills for good instead of for personal gain. They are often referred to as "ethical hackers". They are hired by companies to see how secure their security is. Also, there are white hats who bend the rules instead of breaking them. Below are two famous black hat hackers and two famous white hat hackers.
Two famous black hat hackers are Jonathan James and Adrian Lamo. Jonathan James was 16 at the time he was arrested for hacking. When he was caught he said, " was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see if I could pull it off". He targeted a number of high profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat reduction server. The DTRA is an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies from nuclear, biological, chemical, convectional, and special weapons. By installing this backdoor Jonathan James was able to view high priority emails and obtain employee usernames and passwords. He also cracked into the computers at NASA, stealing software valued at about 1.7 million dollars. The Department of Justice, "The software supported the International Space Station's physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space". It cost NASA 41,000 dollars when they had to shut down their computers. When Jonathan spoke on what he did he said " The code itself was crappy...certainly not worth 1.7 million like they claimed". After the serious actions committed by Jonathan James, also known as "c0mrade" if he were an adult he would of likely served at least 10 years behind bars. Since he was a juvenile, he was banned from recreational use of computers and was given a six-month sentence of house arrest. Eventually, Jonathan would serve 6 months in prison for violating his parole.
Next is Adrian Lamo who intruded into organizations such as The New York Times and Microsoft. He is also known as the "homeless hacker" because he used public internet places such as Kinkos, coffee shops, and libraries. Lamo claims that he "Hacks by day and squats by night". "I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. Lamo's intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white hat hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it's legal. What Lamo did is not. When he broke into The New York Times' intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times' LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter. For his intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 16, 2007. Lamo is currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker.
Next are the two most famous white hat hackers. The two most famous white hat hackers are Kevin Mitnick and Kevin Poulsen. Kevin Mitnick, A self-proclaimed "hacker poster boy," Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offenses may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as "the most wanted computer criminal in United States history." His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown. Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offenses that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although there were numerous offenses, Mitnick was ultimately convicted for breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation's computer network and stealing software. Mitnick's mischief got serious when he went on a two and a half year "coast-to-coast hacking spree." The CNN article, "Legendary computer hacker released from prison," explains that "he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system." He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura's home computer, which led to his undoing. Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and is now a computer security consultant, author and speaker.
Next is Kevin Poulsen, Also known as Dark Dante, Poulsen gained recognition for his hack of LA radio's KIIS-FM phone lines, which earned him a brand new Porsche, among other items. Law enforcement dubbed him "the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime." Authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. During this pursuit, he further drew the ire of the FBI by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information. His hacking specialty, however, revolved around telephones. Poulsen's most famous hack, KIIS-FM, was accomplished by taking over all of the station's phone lines. In a related feat, Poulsen also "reactivated old Yellow Page escort telephone numbers for an acquaintance who then ran a virtual escort agency." Later, when his photo came up on the show Unsolved Mysteries, 1-800 phone lines for the program crashed. Ultimately, Poulsen was captured in a supermarket and served a sentence of five years. Since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist. He is now a senior editor for Wired News. His most prominent article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.
Black hat Crackers are hackers that are known as "black hats". What they try to do is find weaknesses in computer systems. Black hat crackers are the hacker who are always being arrested. Most of the time their goal is just to get enjoyment out of it, but others may be looking for personal gain. White hat hackers are the opposites of the black hat hackers. They use their skills for good instead of for personal gain. They are often referred to as "ethical hackers". They are hired by companies to see how secure their security is. Also, there are white hats who bend the rules instead of breaking them. Below are two famous black hat hackers and two famous white hat hackers.
Two famous black hat hackers are Jonathan James and Adrian Lamo. Jonathan James was 16 at the time he was arrested for hacking. When he was caught he said, " was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see if I could pull it off". He targeted a number of high profile organizations. He installed a backdoor into a Defense Threat reduction server. The DTRA is an agency of the Department of Defense charged with reducing the threat to the U.S. and its allies from nuclear, biological, chemical, convectional, and special weapons. By installing this backdoor Jonathan James was able to view high priority emails and obtain employee usernames and passwords. He also cracked into the computers at NASA, stealing software valued at about 1.7 million dollars. The Department of Justice, "The software supported the International Space Station's physical environment, including control of the temperature and humidity within the living space". It cost NASA 41,000 dollars when they had to shut down their computers. When Jonathan spoke on what he did he said " The code itself was crappy...certainly not worth 1.7 million like they claimed". After the serious actions committed by Jonathan James, also known as "c0mrade" if he were an adult he would of likely served at least 10 years behind bars. Since he was a juvenile, he was banned from recreational use of computers and was given a six-month sentence of house arrest. Eventually, Jonathan would serve 6 months in prison for violating his parole.
Next is Adrian Lamo who intruded into organizations such as The New York Times and Microsoft. He is also known as the "homeless hacker" because he used public internet places such as Kinkos, coffee shops, and libraries. Lamo claims that he "Hacks by day and squats by night". "I have a laptop in Pittsburgh, a change of clothes in D.C. Lamo's intrusions consisted mainly of penetration testing, in which he found flaws in security, exploited them and then informed companies of their shortcomings. His hits include Yahoo!, Bank of America, Citigroup and Cingular. When white hat hackers are hired by companies to do penetration testing, it's legal. What Lamo did is not. When he broke into The New York Times' intranet, things got serious. He added himself to a list of experts and viewed personal information on contributors, including Social Security numbers. Lamo also hacked into The Times' LexisNexis account to research high-profile subject matter. For his intrusion at The New York Times, Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in restitution. He was also sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years of probation, which expired January 16, 2007. Lamo is currently working as an award-winning journalist and public speaker.
Next are the two most famous white hat hackers. The two most famous white hat hackers are Kevin Mitnick and Kevin Poulsen. Kevin Mitnick, A self-proclaimed "hacker poster boy," Mitnick went through a highly publicized pursuit by authorities. His mischief was hyped by the media but his actual offenses may be less notable than his notoriety suggests. The Department of Justice describes him as "the most wanted computer criminal in United States history." His exploits were detailed in two movies: Freedom Downtime and Takedown. Mitnick had a bit of hacking experience before committing the offenses that made him famous. He started out exploiting the Los Angeles bus punch card system to get free rides. Then, like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, dabbled in phone phreaking. Although there were numerous offenses, Mitnick was ultimately convicted for breaking into the Digital Equipment Corporation's computer network and stealing software. Mitnick's mischief got serious when he went on a two and a half year "coast-to-coast hacking spree." The CNN article, "Legendary computer hacker released from prison," explains that "he hacked into computers, stole corporate secrets, scrambled phone networks and broke into the national defense warning system." He then hacked into computer expert and fellow hacker Tsutomu Shimomura's home computer, which led to his undoing. Today, Mitnick has been able to move past his role as a black hat hacker and become a productive member of society. He served five years, about 8 months of it in solitary confinement, and is now a computer security consultant, author and speaker.
Next is Kevin Poulsen, Also known as Dark Dante, Poulsen gained recognition for his hack of LA radio's KIIS-FM phone lines, which earned him a brand new Porsche, among other items. Law enforcement dubbed him "the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime." Authorities began to pursue Poulsen after he hacked into a federal investigation database. During this pursuit, he further drew the ire of the FBI by hacking into federal computers for wiretap information. His hacking specialty, however, revolved around telephones. Poulsen's most famous hack, KIIS-FM, was accomplished by taking over all of the station's phone lines. In a related feat, Poulsen also "reactivated old Yellow Page escort telephone numbers for an acquaintance who then ran a virtual escort agency." Later, when his photo came up on the show Unsolved Mysteries, 1-800 phone lines for the program crashed. Ultimately, Poulsen was captured in a supermarket and served a sentence of five years. Since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist. He is now a senior editor for Wired News. His most prominent article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.