History of Computer Hacking
Computer Hacking: A Timeline
1971:
Computer hobbyist John Draper discovers that a toy whistle included in a
box of children's cereal reproduces exactly the 2600-hertz audio tone
needed to open a telephone line and begin making free long-distance
calls. He adopts the moniker "Captain Crunch," after the cereal and is
arrested dozens of times in the next few years for phone tampering.
1975:
Two members of the Homebrew Computer Club of California begin making
"blue boxes," devices based on Draper's discovery that generate
different tones to help people hack into the phone system. Their names?
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who would later go on to found a company
called Apple Computers in 1977.
1983: The movie
"War Games," starring Matthew Broderick, is released in theaters.
Broderick plays a teenage hacker who taps into a Pentagon supercomputer
nicknamed "WOPR" and nearly starts World War III. (WOPR is a spoof of
NORAD's old central computer processing system, which had the acronym
"BURGR.")
In one of the first high-profile cases against computer
hackers, the FBI arrests six teenagers from Milwaukee known as the
"414s," named after the city's area code. They are accused of breaking
into more than 60 computer networks, including those of Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Los Alamos National Laboratory. One
hacker gets immunity for his testimony; the others are given probation.
1984: Eric Corley begins publishing an underground magazine called 2600: The Hacker Quarterly,
which quickly becomes a clearinghouse for telephone and computer
hacking. The following year, a pair of journalists from St. Louis begin
publishing Phrack, an electronic magazine that provides hacking
information.
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act is passed, which
gives the Secret Service jurisdiction over cases of credit card and
computer fraud.
1986: Congress passes the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act, which makes it a crime to break into computer systems. In typical
congressional fashion, the law doesn't apply to those individuals
largely responsible for computer crimes - juveniles.
1987:
Herbert Zinn, a 17-year-old high-school dropout who lives with his
parents in Chicago and goes by the nickname of "Shadow Hawk," is
arrested and admits to breaking into AT&T's computer network after
bragging about it on an electronic bulletin board. Federal authorities
say the teenager - who did most of his hacking from a computer in his
bedroom - was only a few steps away from tapping into the company's
central telephone switching system, which could have brought most of the
nation's telephone networks and communications systems to a standstill.
Brain, the first known MS-DOS computer virus, is released on the
internet. The program itself is mostly harmless; users whose computers
are infected with the virus find a small file added to their hard drive
containing an unencrypted text message giving contact information for a
"Brain Computer Services" in Pakistan.
1988:
Robert Morris, a 22-year-old graduate student from Cornell University
releases a self-replicating virus on the Internet designed to exploit
security holes in UNIX systems. The virus eventually infects more than
6,000 systems - roughly one-tenth of the Internet's computers at the
time - and virtually shuts down the entire network for two days.
Morris
is arrested for releasing the virus and is sentenced to three years
probation, 400 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine. Despite
the online havoc he wreaks, he's more than absolved by the Internet
community; he later forms a startup internet company, Viaweb, which is
bought in 1998 for approximately $49 million.
As a result of the
Morris virus, the federal government forms the Computer Emergency
Response Team. Based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, its
mission is to investigate attacks on computer networks.
1990:
Four members of a band of hackers from the Southeastern United States
affectionately known as the "Legion of Doom" are arrested for stealing
the technical specifications for BellSouth's 911 emergency telephone
network. The hackers are accused of lifting login accounts, passwords
and connect addresses for its computer networks, information that could
"potentially disrupt or halt 911 service in the United States,"
according to a subsequent indictment. Three of the hackers are found
guilty and given prison sentences ranging from 14 to 21 months; they are
also ordered to pay BellSouth nearly a quarter of a million dollars in
damages.
The Secret Service, in conjunction with Arizona's
organized crime unit, unveils Operation Sundevil, a nationwide project
designed to hunt down computer hackers. They eventually seize computer
equipment in 14 cities, including Tucson, Miami and Los Angeles.
The
Electronic Frontier Foundation is created, with the primary goal of
defending the rights of people accused of computer hacking.
1991:
The General Accounting Office reveals that during the Gulf War, a group
of Dutch teenagers broke into a Defense Department computer network and
gained access to "sensitive" information on war operations, including
data on military personnel, the amount of military equipment being sent
to the Persian Gulf, and the development of certain weapons systems.
1993:
After hackers break into AT&T's computer networks and bring
long-distance telephone service to a halt on Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
the Secret Service initiates a national crackdown on computer hackers,
arresting members of a group titled "Masters of Deception" in New York,
and other hackers in St. Louis and Austin, Texas. The members all plead
guilty of computer crimes and conspiracy.
Twenty-eight-year-old
Kevin Poulsen, who was already facing charges for stealing military
documents and disrupting telecommunications services, is charged along
with two other hackers, of using computers to rig promotional contests
at three Los Angeles radio stations. In a rather ingenious scheme,
Poulsen and his cohorts use computers to seize control of incoming phone
lines at the radio stations and make sure that only their calls get
through. The three hackers wind up "winning" two Porsches, $20,000 in
cash and two trips to Hawaii before being caught.
1995:
Russian hacker Vladimir Levin is arrested in Britain after allegedly
using his laptop computer to break into Citibank's computer network and
transfer funds to various accounts around the world. Levin is eventually
extradited to the U.S., where he is sentenced to three years in prison
and order to pay Citibank $240,000. The exact amount of money stolen by
Levin remains unknown; estimates range between $3.7-$10 million.
Legendary
computer hacker Kevin Mitnick is arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina
and accused of a number of security violations, such as copying computer
software, breaking into various networks and stealing private
information, including 20,000 valid credit card numbers. He spends four
years in jail without a trial, then pleads guilty to seven counts in
March 1999 before finally being released on parole in January 2000.
Mitnick had previously been convicted of stealing software and long
distance telephone codes from two telecommunications companies in 1989.
1997: The
hacking program "AOHell" is released, aimed at wreaking havoc for users
of America Online. For days, the AOL network is brought to a virtual
standstill, as hundreds of thousands of users find their mailboxes
flooded with multiple-megabyte e-mail messages and their chat rooms
disabled or disrupted with "spam" messages.
1998:
The Symantec AntiVirus Research Center, a leader in security and
antivirus software, reports that 30,000 computer viruses are circulating
"in the wild" on the internet.
For the first time, federal
prosecutors charge a juvenile with computer hacking after a boy shuts
down the Bell Atlantic airport communications system in Worcester,
Massachusetts. The boy's attack interrupts communications between
airplanes and the control tower at Worcester Airport for more than six
hours, but no accidents occur. The boy, whose name and exact age are not
released, pleads guilty and is sentenced to two years probation, 250
hours of community service, and is ordered to repay Bell Atlantic
$5,000.
Members of a hacking group called the Masters of
Downloading claim to have broken into a Pentagon network and stolen
software that allows them to control a military satellite system. They
threaten to sell the software to terrorists. The Pentagon denies that
the software is classified or that it would allow the hackers to control
their satellites, but later admits that a less-secure network
containing "sensitive" information had been compromised.
Deputy
Defense Secretary John Hamre announces that hackers have carried "the
most organized and systematic attack the Pentagon has seen to date" by
breaking into unclassified computer networks, then viewing and altering
payroll and personnel data at dozens of federal agencies. Two teenagers
from Cloverdale, California are originally implicated. Three weeks
later, authorities arrest an Israeli teenager known as "The Analyzer,"
who claims to have taught the two Californians how to conduct the
attacks.
Two hackers are sentenced to death by a court in China
for breaking into a banks computer network and stealing 260,000 yuan
($31,400).
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno announces the
creation of the National Infrastructure Protection Center, an
organization designed to protect the nation's telecommunications,
technology and transportation systems from hackers.
In May,
members of "L0pht," a well-known hacker group, testify before Congress.
They cite serious security weaknesses in many of the government's
computer networks; one member claims that if the group wanted to, it
could shut down the entire internet in half an hour.
Two
"internet terrorists" defame the New York Times website, renaming it
"Hackers for Girls" and expressing anger at the arrest of Kevin Mitnick,
who was the subject of a book written by a reporter at the Times.
The
hackers group Legion of the Underground (LoU) breaks into China's human
rights website in October and replaces the front page with a message
asking consumers and businesses to boycott all Chinese goods and
services. A few months later, LoU issues a statement declaring a "cyber
war" on Iraq and China calling for "the complete destruction of all
computer systems" in those countries.
1999: In
March, a hacker by the name of MagicFX breaks into the popular online
auction site E-Bay, destroying the site's front page. According to the
company, the attack was so severe that MagicFX was able to change
auction prices, post fake items for sale, and divert traffic to other
sites.
Throughout May and June, dozens of government and consumer
sites, including those of the U.S. Senate, the White House and the U.S.
Army, fall prey to cyber attacks. In each case, the hackers defame the
site's front page with arcane messages that are quickly erased.
In
November, a Norwegian hacker group, MoRE (Masters of Reverse
Engineering), cracks a key to decoding copy-protected DVDs. The group
creates a DVD decoder program, which is widely distributed for free on
the internet.
2000: The Symantec AntiVirus Research Center estimates that one new computer virus "enters the wild" every hour of every day.
In
a 72-hour period in early February, more than a dozen of the internet's
most popular websites, including Yahoo, Buy.com, Amazon.com, E-Bay,
CNN.com, eTrade and ZDNet, are hacked via "denial of service" attacks
that overloaded the sites' servers with an overwhelming number of
information requests.
The "I Love You" virus debuts on the
Internet in May, appearing first in the Philippines, then spreading
across the globe in a matter of hours. It causes an estimated $10
billion of damage globally in lost files and computer downtime before a
solution is found.
The trade publication Computer Economics
estimates that computer viruses will cost companies a total of $17
billion worldwide in ruined or lost data and lost production time.
A
study released by PC Data in the summer reveals an alarming trend:
although most people have some type of antivirus software on their
personal computer, almost 45 percent of those who log onto the Internet
regularly still don't have that software engaged, even if it's
installed. In effect, this leaves nearly half of all home computer users
exposed and vulnerable to attack from a virus.
In October, in
what many people see as a fit of poetic justice, software giant
Microsoft admits to having its computer network infiltrated by a hacker
(or hackers) from Russia. According to company statements, the hacker(s)
used a trojan horse program to create a surreptitious e-mail account
and were able to access the source code of an as-yet-unnamed Microsoft
product still being developed. Microsoft security experts later admit
they were able to track the movements of the hacker(s) throughout their
network but were unable to actually catch them in the act.
2001:
In early May, groups of Chinese hackers infiltrate several U.S.
government sites, including those of the White House, the Central
Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The attacks are believed to be a form of retaliation for an incident
involving a U.S. spy plane earlier in the year.
Also in early
May, Microsoft websites in the U.S., Great Britain, Mexico and Saudi
Arabia are temporarily disrupted by distributed denial-of-service (DDOS)
attacks.
Don't Hate the Hacker
Having
just read this timeline, I'm sure that few (if any) of you probably feel
sorry for computer hackers. I can't blame you. Like hundreds of
companies, Dynamic Chiropractic fell victim to the "I Love You"
virus late last year; in fact, I was the one who accidentally opened
the file containing the virus. As a result, our company's e-mail system
was shut down for two days, and it took the better part of a week before
every computer in the office was declared virus-free.
Because of
that virus, our company has instituted a policy whereby every computer
in the office automatically receives the latest virus updates weekly,
and every file sent to DC via e-mail is scanned for viruses
before it is opened. Those policies weren't in place before the virus
attacked; we've now taken steps to insure such an accident doesn't
happen again.
Personally, I think hackers play a necessary role
in the advancement of technology; in fact, they've been a major
influence on modern society long before computers were invented. Most of
our greatest inventions were created by people who broke into existing
technologies, examined how they worked, and looked for ways to improve
or expand those technologies. In effect, the Kevin Poulsens and Vladimir
Levins of today are providing the same type of service that people like
Bell, Marconi and Thomas Edison did a century ago.
I also think
hackers serve a useful purpose in that they make companies take action
and be responsible for their laziness and lack of organization. Last
year, CNN reported that more than 100 federal computer systems were
compromised by hackers. They were so successful because many federal
system operators failed to download and apply a software patch from
Microsoft, even though it had been available on line - for free - for
more than a year.
HACKING IS ILLEGAL DO IT ON YOUR OWN RISK...............................................
