Part of a series on |
Computer hacking |
---|
Convicted computer criminals are people who are caught and convicted of computer crimes such as breaking into computers or computer networks. [1] Computer crime can be broadly defined as criminal activity involving information technology infrastructure, including illegal access (unauthorized access), illegal interception (by technical means of non-public transmissions of computer data to, from or within a computer system), data interference (unauthorized damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of computer data), systems interference (interfering with the functioning of a computer system by inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data), misuse of devices, forgery (or identity theft) and electronic fraud. [2]
In the infancy of the hacker subculture and the computer underground, [3] criminal convictions were rare because there was an informal code of ethics that was followed by white hat hackers [ broken anchor ]. [4] Proponents of hacking claim to be motivated by artistic and political ends, but are often unconcerned about the use of criminal means to achieve them. [5] White hat hackers break past computer security for non-malicious reasons and do no damage, akin to breaking into a house and looking around. [6] They enjoy learning and working with computer systems, and by this experience gain a deeper understanding of electronic security. [6] As the computer industry matured, individuals with malicious intentions (black hats) would emerge to exploit computer systems for their own personal profit. [6]
Convictions of computer crimes, or hacking, began as early as 1984 with the case of The 414s from the 414 area code in Milwaukee. In that case, six teenagers broke into a number of high-profile computer systems, including Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Security Pacific Bank. On May 1, 1984, one of the 414s, Gerald Wondra, was sentenced to two years of probation. [7] In May 1986, the first computer trespass conviction to result in a jail sentence was handed down to Michael Princeton Wilkerson, who received two weeks in jail for his infiltration of Microsoft, Sundstrand Corp., Kenworth Truck Co. and Resources Conservation Co. [8]
In 2006, a prison term of nearly five years was handed down to Jeanson James Ancheta, who created hundreds of zombie computers to do his bidding via giant bot networks or botnets. [9] He then sold the botnets to the highest bidder, who in turn used them for denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. [10]
As of 2012 [update] , the longest sentence for computer crimes is that of Albert Gonzalez for 20 years. [11] The next longest sentences are those of 13 years for Max Butler, [12] 108 months for Brian Salcedo in 2004 and upheld in 2006 by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, [13] [14] and 68 months for Kevin Mitnick in 1999. [15]
Name | Handle | Nationality | Conviction(s) | Sentencing date(s) | Penalty |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elliott Gunton | Glubz/planet | United Kingdom | Money laundering, Computer Misuse Act crimes, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, [16] conspiracy to commit fraud [17] | November 2016; August 2019; July 2024 | 3½ years of imprisonment (most recent) |
Conor Brian Fitzpatrick | Pompompurin | United States | Conspiracy to commit access device fraud, access device fraud, and possession of child pornography | January 2024 | 20 years of supervised release |
Tyler King | — | United States | Conspiring to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft [18] | 2019 | 57 months federal prison [19] [20] |
Roman Seleznev | Track2 | Russian | Convicted of 38 counts involving unauthorized access of business information systems and stealing over two million credit card numbers. Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. [21] [22] [23] | August 2016 and September 2017 | Sentenced to 27 years' imprisonment for the 2016 conviction, [21] [22] concurrent with sentence of 14 years for the second set of charges [23] |
Pascal van den Essenburg | Twinkie | Netherlands | Nine counts of Illegal Computer Trespass to computers and one count of money laundering for an amount of $25 million [24] | 2017 | Two months jail sentence before they let him go due to lack of evidence |
Hamza Bendelladj | Bx1 | Algeria | Pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiring to commit computer fraud and abuse, and 11 counts of computer fraud and abuse [25] He is a co-creator of Trojan horse SpyEye. He stole from 217 American banks in total stealing $400 million and is alleged to have donated all the money to Africa and Palestine, though Trial documents did not mention any donations or charity activities. [26] Despite much false information on the internet Bendelladj did not get sentenced to death, and claims saying he donated any money to charity is almost impossible to verify. [27] The SpyEye software was also sold to other hackers and used as part of a botnet. | 23 April 2016 | 15 years jail sentence |
Ross Ulbricht | altoid/frosty/Dread Pirate Roberts | United States | money laundering, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics | 29 May 2015 | Double life imprisonment plus forty years, without the possibility of parole |
Kristina Svechinskaya | — | Russia | Accused of using Zeus Trojan horse to attack thousands of bank accounts and opened at least five accounts in Bank of America and Wachovia. [28] It is estimated that with nine other people Svechinskaya had skimmed $3 million in total. [29] | 24 June 2013 | Signed a personal recognizance bond [30] and was released under $25,000 bail. [31] Ordered to pay $35,000 in damages. [32] |
Lewys Martin | sl1nk | United Kingdom | Pleaded guilty to five counts of "unauthorised acts with intent to impair operation of or prevent/hinder access to a computer", two of "unauthorised computer access with intent to commit other offences", one of "unauthorised computer access with intent to commit other offences", and one of "unauthorised access to computer material". Hacking attempt on the websites of Kent Police, Cambridge University and Oxford University. Former member of NullCrew and said to have penetrated the servers of Department of Defense (DoD), Pentagon, NASA, NSA, other UK government websites. [33] | 16 May 2013 | Two years imprisonment [34] |
David Schrooten | Fortezza/Xakep | Netherlands | Accused of causing 63 million dollar in damages. Primarily for his role in trafficking credit cards he obtained by hacking other hackers. [35] [36] Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and bank fraud, access device fraud, bank fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer, and aggravated identity theft. | 1 February 2013 | Extradited from Romania and sentenced to 144 months in U.S. federal prison [37] |
Andrew Auernheimer | Weev | United States (at time of sentencing) | On November 20, 2012, was found guilty of one count of identity fraud and one count of conspiracy to access a computer without authorization [38] | 20 November 2012 | Auernheimer was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $73,000 in restitution [39] |
Samy Kamkar | samy | United States | Pleaded guilty to violating California Penal Code 502(c)(8) for creating the "Samy is my hero" XSS worm that spread across the MySpace social networking site [40] | 2007 | Three years of formal probation, 90 days of community service, restitution paid to MySpace, restrictions on computer use [40] |
Jeanson James Ancheta | Gobo | United States | Pleaded guilty to four federal charges of violating United States Code Section 1030, Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers, specifically subsections (a)(5)(A)(i), 1030 (a)(5)(B)(i) and 1030(b) [10] | 8 May 2006 | 57 months in prison, forfeit a 1993 BMW and more than US$58,000 in profit Restitution of US$15,000 to the U.S. federal government for infecting military computers [41] [42] |
Cameron Lacroix | cam0 | United States | Pleaded guilty to hacking into the cell-phone account of celebrity Paris Hilton and participated in an attack on data-collection firm LexisNexis Group that exposed personal records of more than 300,000 consumers [43] | 13 September 2005 | 11 months in a Massachusetts juvenile detention facility [43] |
Jeffrey Lee Parson | T33kid | United States | Pleaded guilty on August 11, 2004, to one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer via his version of the Blaster computer worm [44] | 28 January 2005 | 18 months in prison and 100 hours of community service [45] |
Adrian Lamo | — | United States | One-count of computer crimes against Microsoft, LexisNexis and The New York Times [46] | 15 July 2004 | Six months detention at his parents' home plus two years probation and roughly US$65,000 in restitution [46] |
Kimberley Vanvaeck | Gigabyte | Belgium | Wrote the Coconut-A, Sahay-A, and Sharp-A (first virus written in C#) computer viruses. Charged and arrested for computer data sabotage against internet security firm Sophos. [47] | 16 February 2004 | Released within 24 hours on bail due to being a minor (17 years old) [48] |
Jerome Heckenkamp | MagicFX | United States | Admitted the hacking and pleaded guilty to two felonies in 2004 [49] | 2004 | Sentenced to time served after spending seven months in prison [49] |
David L. Smith | Kwyjibo | United States | Pleaded guilty to knowingly spreading a computer virus, the Melissa virus, with the intent to cause damage [50] | 1 May 2002 | 20 months in federal prison, US$5,000 fine and 100 hours of community service upon release [50] |
Gary McKinnon | Solo | United Kingdom | Accused in 2002 of perpetrating the "biggest military computer hack of all time," although McKinnon himself states that he was merely looking for evidence of free energy suppression and a cover-up of UFO activity and other technologies potentially useful to the public | 2002 | On 16 October 2012, after a series of legal proceedings in Britain, Home Secretary Theresa May withdrew her extradition order to the United States |
Jan de Wit | OnTheFly | Netherlands | Spreading data into a computer network with the intention of causing damage as the creator of the Anna Kournikova virus [51] | 27 September 2001 | 150 hours community service [51] [52] [53] |
Michael Calce | MafiaBoy | Canada | Pleaded guilty to 56 charges of "mischief to data" [54] [55] | 12 September 2001 | Eight months "open custody", by the Montreal Youth Court, one year of probation, restricted use of the Internet and a small fine [55] [56] |
Raphael Gray | Curador | United Kingdom | Pleaded guilty to theft and hacking offenses which fall under the Computer Misuse Act and six charges of intentionally accessing sites containing credit card details and using this information for financial gain [57] | 6 July 2001 | Three years of psychiatric treatment after evidence emerged that he was suffering from a mental condition which needed medical treatment rather than incarceration [58] |
Ehud Tenenbaum | Analyzer | Israel | Admitted to cracking US and Israeli computers, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wrongful infiltration of computerized material, disruption of computer use and destroying evidence [59] | 15 June 2001 | Six months of community service, one year of probation, a two-year suspended prison sentence and fined about US$18,000 [59] |
Dennis Moran | Coolio | United States | Misdemeanor charges of hacking [60] | 9 March 2001 | Nine months in jail and US$5,000 in restitution to each victim [60] |
David D'Amato | Terri DiSisto | United States | Found guilty of email bombings which caused service outages at a number of colleges and universities; victims were young males from whom he solicited tickling videos who had stopped co-operating with his requests [61] | 2001 | Fined $5,000 (USD) and sentenced to six months in federal prison [62] [63] |
Jonathan James | c0mrade | United States | Two counts of juvenile delinquency [64] | 21 September 2000 | Six-month prison sentence and probation until the age of eighteen [64] |
Kevin Mitnick | Condor | United States | Four counts of wire fraud, two counts of computer fraud and one count of illegally intercepting a wire communication [65] | 9 August 1999 | 46 months in federal prison and US$4,125 in restitution [65] |
Julian Paul Assange | Mendax/profff | Australia | 31 charges of hacking and related charges. Pleaded guilty to 25 charges, the remaining 6 were dropped. [66] | 5 December 1996 | A recorded conviction on all counts, a reparation payment of A$2,100 to ANU (to be paid in 3 months time) and a A$5,000 good-behaviour bond [67] |
Kevin Poulsen | Dark Dante | United States | Pleaded guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice [9] | 10 April 1995 | 51 months in prison and ordered to pay US$56,000 in restitution [9] |
Chris Pile | The Black Baron | United Kingdom | Writing and distributing computer viruses | 1995 | 18 months in prison |
Mark Abene | Phiber Optik | United States | Misdemeanor theft-of-service for a free-call scam to a 900 number [1] | 1991 | 35 hours of community service [1] |
One count of computer trespass and one count of computer conspiracy [68] | 1993 | One-year jail sentence [68] [69] | |||
Nahshon Even-Chaim | Phoenix | Australia | 15 charges including trespassing on the University of Texas computer network, altering data at NASA and the theft of the ZARDOZ file [70] | 1993 | One-year suspended sentence: A$1,000 good-behaviour bond and 500 hours community service [70] |
Richard Jones | Electron | Australia | Trespassing on the University of Texas computer network and theft of the ZARDOZ file [70] | 1993 | One year and six months suspended sentence, 300 hours of community service and psychiatric assessment and treatment [70] |
Leonard Rose | Terminus | United States | Illicit use of proprietary software (UNIX 3.2 code) owned by AT&T [1] and 2 counts of computer fraud and three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property [71] [72] | 12 June 1991 | One-year jail sentence [71] [73] |
Robert Tappan Morris | rtm | United States | Intentional access of federal interest computers without authorization thereby preventing authorized access and causing a loss in excess of US$1,000 [74] | 7 March 1991 | Three years probation and 400 hours of community service in a manner determined by the Probation Office and approved by the Court [74] |
Markus Hess | — | Germany | Found guilty of espionage | 15 February 1990 | One to two years suspended sentence |
Michael Princeton Wilkerson | The Sprinter | United States | Four counts of Illegal Computer Trespass to computers at: Microsoft, Sundstrand Data Control, Kenworth Truck Co. and Resources Conservation Co. (a Boeing subsidiary) [75] | 7 May 1986 | Two weeks jail sentence, 200 hours community service, two years probation, fined US$2,000 [76] |
Gerald Wondra | The 414s | United States | Unauthorized access to computers at the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a Los Angeles bank [77] and two counts of "making harassing telephone calls" [78] | 1 May 1983 | Two years probation [77] |
Kevin David Mitnick was an American computer security consultant, author, and convicted hacker. He is best known for his high-profile 1995 arrest and five years in prison for various computer and communications-related crimes. Mitnick's pursuit, arrest, trial and sentence were all controversial, as were the associated media coverage, books and films. After his release from prison, he ran his own security firm, Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC, and was also involved with other computer security businesses.
Cybercrime encompasses a wide range of criminal activities that are carried out using digital devices and/or networks. These crimes involve the use of technology to commit fraud, identity theft, data breaches, computer viruses, scams, and expanded upon in other malicious acts. Cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks to gain unauthorized access, steal sensitive information, disrupt services, and cause financial or reputational harm to individuals, organizations, and governments.
Mark Abene is an American information security expert and entrepreneur, originally from New York City. Better known by his pseudonym Phiber Optik, he was once a member of the hacker groups Legion of Doom and Masters of Deception.
Kevin Lee Poulsen is an American former black-hat hacker and a contributing editor at The Daily Beast.
A black hat is a computer hacker who violates laws or ethical standards for nefarious purposes, such as cybercrime, cyberwarfare, or malice. These acts can range from piracy to identity theft. A Black hat is often referred to as a "cracker".
Michael Calce is a security expert and former computer hacker from Île Bizard, Quebec, who launched a series of highly publicized denial-of-service attacks in February 2000 against large commercial websites, including Yahoo!, Fifa.com, Amazon.com, Dell, Inc., E*TRADE, eBay, and CNN. He also launched a series of failed simultaneous attacks against nine of the thirteen root name servers.
A security hacker or security researcher is someone who explores methods for breaching defenses and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, information gathering, challenge, recreation, or evaluation of a system weaknesses to assist in formulating defenses against potential hackers.
globalHell was an American hacker group. They were one of the first hacking groups who gained notoriety for website defacements and breaches. The combined losses caused by the group were estimated to be ranged between $1.5m and $2.5m. The group was called a "cyber gang" as it had many of the same characteristics of a gang and carried out the same activities as a gang, including trafficking in stolen credit card numbers.
Jonathan Joseph James was an American hacker who was the first juvenile incarcerated for cybercrime in the United States. The South Florida native was 15 years old at the time of the first offense and 16 years old on the date of his sentencing. He died at his Pinecrest, Florida home on May 18, 2008, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Justin Tanner Petersen was an American hacker, concert promoter, sound engineer, private investigator and an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While tasked with helping to catch other hackers and fugitives wanted by the FBI, he continued to commit serious crimes.
Cameron LaCroix, aka camo, cam0, camZero, cmuNNY, is an American computer hacker best known for the hacking of Paris Hilton's cellular phone, accessing LexisNexis, and defacing Burger King's Twitter account. He has also been convicted of intentionally causing damage to a protected computer system, obtaining information from a protected computer system, wire fraud, and aggravated identity fraud. Prosecutors said victims of the teen's actions have suffered about $1 million in damages. Pursuant to a plea agreement signed by the juvenile in August 2005, he received 11 months in a federal juvenile detention facility. In January 2007 his supervised release was revoked due to possession of a cell phone.
Anna Kournikova was a computer virus that spread worldwide on the Internet in February 2001. The virus program was contained in an email attachment, purportedly an image of tennis player Anna Kournikova.
Albert Gonzalez is an American computer hacker, computer criminal and police informer, who is accused of masterminding the combined credit card theft and subsequent reselling of more than 170 million card and ATM numbers from 2005 to 2007, the biggest such fraud in history. Gonzalez and his accomplices used SQL injection to deploy backdoors on several corporate systems in order to launch packet sniffing attacks which allowed him to steal computer data from internal corporate networks.
Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer, best known by his pseudonym weev, is an American computer hacker and professional Internet troll. Affiliated with the alt-right, he has been described as a neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist. He has used many aliases when he has contacted the media, but most sources state that his real first name is Andrew.
Max Ray Vision is a former computer security consultant and hacker who served a 13-year prison sentence, the longest sentence ever given at the time for hacking charges in the United States. He was convicted of two counts of wire fraud, including stealing nearly 2 million credit card numbers and running up about $86 million in fraudulent charges.
The Sarah Palin email hack occurred on September 16, 2008, during the 2008 United States presidential election campaign when vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal Yahoo! email account was subjected to unauthorized access. The hacker, David Kernell, obtained access to Palin's account by looking up biographical details, such as her high school and birthdate, and using Yahoo!'s account recovery for forgotten passwords. Kernell then posted several pages of Palin's email on 4chan's /b/ board. Kernell, who at the time of the offense was a 20-year-old college student, was the son of longtime Democratic state representative Mike Kernell of Memphis.
There is no commonly agreed single definition of “cybercrime”. It refers to illegal internet-mediated activities that often take place in global electronic networks. Cybercrime is "international" or "transnational" – there are ‘no cyber-borders between countries'. International cybercrimes often challenge the effectiveness of domestic and international law, and law enforcement. Because existing laws in many countries are not tailored to deal with cybercrime, criminals increasingly conduct crimes on the Internet in order to take advantages of the less severe punishments or difficulties of being traced.
Roman Valerevich Seleznev, also known by his hacker name Track2, is a Russian computer hacker. Seleznev was indicted in the United States in 2011, and was convicted of hacking into servers to steal credit-card data. His activities are estimated to have caused more than US$169 million in damages to businesses and financial institutions. Seleznev was arrested on July 5, 2014, while vacationing in the Maldives, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for wire fraud, intentional damage to a protected computer, and identity theft. However, Seleznev would only serve a few years in prison before he would take part in the 2024 Russian prisoner exchange that involved 26 total people, including himself.
Carding is a term of the trafficking and unauthorized use of credit cards. The stolen credit cards or credit card numbers are then used to buy prepaid gift cards to cover up the tracks. Activities also encompass exploitation of personal data, and money laundering techniques. Modern carding sites have been described as full-service commercial entities.
A crime forum is a generic term for an Internet forum specialising in computer crime and Internet fraud activities such as hacking, identity theft, phishing, pharming, malware or spamming.
Gordon Meyer, a sociologist who has since left academia but continues to be involved in the computer industry (and to publish the Computer Underground Digest), wrote in his seminal paper The Social Organization of the Computer Underground that the "computer underground consists of actors in three roles – computer hackers, phone phreaks, and software pirates."
Under the plea agreements, ... Rose ... will serve a year in prison.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)