HACKING INCIDENTS THAT

MADE HEADLINES

The Morris Worm Attack

Robert Tappan Morris, who created the first worm and unleashed the attack on internet in the year 1988 was a graduate student at Cornell University. Though Morris stated that his intention was to measure the size of web, this attack caused serious damages all over the world. Morris was found guilty and was punished with 400 hours of community service, a hefty fine and three year probation.

Jonathan James attack on NASA

Better known as Comrade in the hackers industry, Jonathan was the first and the youngst juvenile who was convicted for attacking NASA’s systems. The software he stole was valued for $1.7 million by the NASA officials. This incident made NASA to shut down its systems for around 3 weeks and costed them $41,000 to deal with this issue and settle things to right. Jonathan, however, had a very short life span as he died during his mid 20s.

The US Military Hack By Garry McKinnon

A Scottish hacker, Garry McKinnon, hacked into several military computers for two consecutive years i.e. 2001 and 2002. The reason behind Garry’s intrusion was to steal information about UFOs and extraterrestrial life in the government records. However, Garry’s curiosity costed the US military more than $700,000 and they had to shut down the network of 2,000 computers for 24 hours. At present, Garry resides in London and is fighting the case for over a decade.

The TJX hacking by Albert Gonzalez

A mastermind who stole more than 90 million credit and debit card numbers from TJX, a renowned apparel and home goods company in America. Albert Gonzalez’s hacking attempts also include renowned brands like DSW, OfficeMax, BJs Wholesale Club, and Dave & Busters. Not only this, but he also hacked the Heartland Payment Systems, stealing information of more than 134 million credit cards. Under law and order, he was sent to prison for 20 years. 

HB Gary hacked by Anonymous

This hacking incident was not attempted by one individual, but there was a group named Anonymous. HB Gary, a security firm, was compromised by the Anonymous group was a counter-attack to Aaron Barr’s investigation into unmasking their identities, who was the CEO of HB Gary.

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