We can see hacking attempts taking place on a regular basis. You must have also become a victim of a hacking attempt. It is important to keep in mind that hacking is not something that was invented in the recent past. It has been there since around 1930s.
When you take a look back in history, you will be able to discover some prominent hackers. Here is a list of 10 of the most prominent hackers that you can find among them. You can go through this list of hackers and figure out who the smartest is.
- Kevin Poulsen
If you take a look at the hacking community, you will notice that Kevin Poulsen is known as the Dark Dante. That’s because he specialized in hacking telephone systems. In fact, he paid more attention towards hacking radio stations. Along with that, he was able to become the winner of numerous radio contests as well. Back in the year 1991, Kevin Poulsen was able to take control over all the telephone lines that were located in Los Angeles. It was one of the best hacking attempts that he committed in the past.
- Michael Calce
Michael Calce was known as Mafia Boy. He was arrested back in the year 2000. That’s where he launched a DDoS attack, which created an impact on a large number of websites out there on the internet. They included some of the most prominent websites such as eBay. Yahoo and Amazon. For this hacking attempt, Michael Calce didn’t use all his power. If he used all his power, he would have caused unimaginable damage.
- Vladimir Levin
Vladimir Levin was a prominent hacker from Russia. He has been engaging with hacking attempts from the apartment, which is located in St. Petersburg in Russia. In one such hacking attempt, Vladimir Levin transferred a massive amount of $10 million into his back accounts. These bank accounts were located in every corner of the world. It was quite similar to what happens in a James Bond movie. He was later captured and sentenced to prison.
- Robert Tappan Morris
Robert Tappan Morris was responsible for launching a worm, which created a massive impact on the internet. In fact, he was responsible for bringing down 10% of the internet. He wanted to create an impact on a large number of young hackers and that’s the main reason on why he launched the worm. However, it created a massive damage than he expected.
- Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick was one of the most prominent cybercriminals in history. He was from United States. Kevin Mitnick started hacking from a very young age. The technique that he used for his hacking attempts was social engineering. He was able to master social engineering and master hacking the telephone switching systems. It was not an easy task to catch Kevin Mitnick as well. In fact, the authorities had to struggle for a duration of two long years in order to catch Kevin Mitnick.
- Gary McKinnon
Back in the year 2002, Gary McKinnon sent a message to the United States Army, stating that their security system is crap. Along with that, he continued to launch numerous hacking attempts as well. He was responsible for the largest hacking attempt that took place in the United States as well. During this hacking attempt, Gary McKinnon was able to take control over the United States Army, Navy and Air Force Systems. On top of that, Gary McKinnon was able to get hold of the system of NASA as well. During this hacking attempt, Gary McKinnon was able to create a damage of more than $700,000.
- George Hotz
George Hotz is the most popular jailbreak artist that you can find in history. In fact, he was the person who contributed towards the popular PlayStation breach, which took place in the year 2011. Not too many hackers were able to jailbreak and gain access to the PlayStation system. George Hotz was one of the very first hackers to break into the system. In the year 2011, he was able to break into the PlayStation 3 system.
- Jonathan James
Jonathan James is another young and successful hacker. He was able to become a hacker when he was just 16 years old. On the age 16, he was sent to the prison for hacking as well. Jonathan James focused more on hacking the high profile government systems. In fact, Jonathan James was able to secure successful results with breaking into the systems of Department of Defence and the NASA. While hacking, Jonathan James was engaged in the process of stealing software. It was later figured out that Jonathan James stole software worth more than $1.7 million.
- David Smith
David Smith is the person who created the popular computer virus named as Melissa. As per David Smith, Melissa was a virus that he created not to cause any harm to anyone. However, it came along with a simple propagation method. As a result, David Smith was able to load servers and computer systems out there. The virus that David Smith created was somewhat unusual as well. That’s one of the reasons on why we thought of adding him to this list of best hackers in history. David Smith was later sent into prison because of the damages that were caused by his virus.
- Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are the founders of Apple. However, they have been spending their younger days as hackers. In fact, they developed blue box devices back in the early 1970s. Along with the use of these devices, it was possible to make long distance calls without making any payments. These devices were then sold to the fellow university students. However, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak didn’t engage with these hacking attempts for a longer period of time.