- [Voiceover] Number five: Jonathan James.
Jonathan James was known as Comrade on the internet.
His hacking career started at a very young age,
when he was convicted and sent to prison
for hacking while he was still a minor.
At just 15 years of age, Jonathan James managed to hack
into a number of networks, including
those belonging to Bell South, Miami Dade,
The US Department of Defense, and even NASA.
During his NASA hack, Jonathan managed
to steal source code for the International Space Station.
Thanks to Jonathan's hacks, NASA had
to shut down their computer networks,
causing $41,000 in damages.
He was sentenced to six months of house arrest
and probation until he turned 18.
To atone for his crimes, the court required him
to write letters of apology to NASA
and the Department of Defense.
Number four: Gary McKinnon.
Under the hacking alias Solo, Gary McKinnon coordinated what
would become the largest military computer hack of all time.
It is alleged that from February 2001 to March 2002,
Gary illegally gained access to 97 computers belonging
to the US armed forces and NASA.
After breaching military systems,
Gary taunted authorities by leaving the message,
"Your security is crap!"
McKinnon claimed that he was only searching
for information related to free energy
and UFO activity cover-ups.
In fact, McKinnon claims that he was able
to access images of alien spaceships during his hacks,
but his connection was too slow
to actually download the photographs.
US authorities claim that he deleted a number
of critical files, rendering over 300 computers inoperable,
and resulting in over $700,000 in damages.
Number three: Astra
Astra is the pseudonym of a Greek hacker
who infiltrated the computers of a French aviation company
and stole weapons technology for over five years.
The information he accessed included confidential data
about jet fighters and other military-grade aircrafts.
Astra then sold his secret information
to numerous countries.
As a result of this infamous hack,
Astra caused more than $360,000,000 in damages.
The actual identity of Astra has never been released,
but when he was apprehended in 2008,
the authorities described him
as a 58 year old mathematician.
Number two: Matthew Bevan and Richard Price
This British hacking duo attacked
the Pentagon's computer network for several weeks in 1994.
During this week-long hacking spree,
Matthew and Richard copied US battlefield simulations
and intercepted messages from US agents in North Korea.
To top that off, Matthew and Richard even managed
to gain computer access into a Korean nuclear facility.
What makes their story even more surprising
is that the two accomplished all of these amazing feats
before the age of 22.
US officials were so afraid that these two renagades
would cause an international incident
that they scrambled to catch these two notorious hackers,
and after an international investigation,
Matthew and Richard were arrested in the following year.
Number one: Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick's hacking career was so interesting
and compelling that the US Department of Justice called him
"the most wanted computer criminal in US history".
After serving a year in prison for hacking
into a corporate network, he was let out
for three years of supervised release.
Instead, Mitnick fled and went
on a two-and-a-half year long hacking spree.
During his years as a notorious hacker,
Mitnick made free calls on his hacked cell phone,
and even admits to hacking into the NSA's phone calls.
Mitnick was eventually caught and convicted,
which landed him with a five year prison sentence.
After his time in prison, he became a consultant
and now runs his own security company.
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