Amanda Johnson 8. Jacob Applebaum
Jacob Applebaum is the person who comes to mind when we hear the word WikiLeaks. He suffered a lot through a pretty crappy life. He was placed for adoption and ended up in a children’s home. At one point, he lived with his biological dad, who was addicted to heroin.
He was challenged to put his energy into computers after the tumultuous childhood he endured. Turns out he was a natural.
He is often, because of his place at WikiLeaks, stopped in airports and detained, to be asked about his political views.
He represents another company called Tor Technologies as well. This company assists the likes of WikiLeaks and others by diverting correspondence and sending them to different countries, to make sure both parties are secure.
He has never been convicted, and he now lives in Berlin. He’s still looked at as a threat, as he and his partner are allegedly spied on over there, even as they sleep.
H/T – Source
9. Kevin Mitnick
Once known as the most dangerous hacker on earth, Kevin Mitnick is now an unremarkable businessman, No biggest client secure their firms to protect them from hackers like himself.
He came to this career change at the end of a five year sentence that came on the heels of another such case. He got sucked in to a hack at the very end of his supervised release period.
In 1995, he was arrested for hacking into the Department of Justice computers and letting it be known that he could launch missiles with a payphone.
H/T – Source
10. Gary McKinnon
McKinnon is definitely dangerous as proved by the fact that he broke into one of the most protected buildings in America. He hacked into the Pentagon’s computer posted the message “your security is crap.”
In the early 2000s, he hacked the military and NASA, over and over. He changed password and deleted files. He even caused a full day of shutdown and munitions.
He left another message, saying that US foreign policy is just government sponsored terrorism. He went on to say that it was no mistake that there was a security issue on 9/11. He also said he would keep on causing trouble.
He was arrested in 2002, and put in jail. The United States is trying to extradite him, to no avail.
I could never even begin to imagine to know how these people figure out how to hack into anything, much less government computers and the like.
I’m not even sure I could break into my own phone if I got locked out of it. I’m glad that some of these people turn their life around and use their skills for good after being in prison for going about it the wrong way.
H/T – Source
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