In the computer security context, a hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. These can be done for a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, or challenge. Whatever the reason is, a hacker is undoubtedly a genius, a great programmer. The word hacker saw a massive resurgence in the past years. Anonymous, the ambiguous international collective, can take the lion's share of credit for bringing hackers back into the spotlight. Here is a list of the best computer hackers of all time.
1. Kevin Mitnick
Kevin Mitnick is the most famous real-life hacker who could have used a few tips on how cellular triangulation works. He is the author of two books The Art of Deception & The Art of Intrusion. He damaged some Communication networks like Nokia, Motorola and Sun Microsystem etc. He was imprisoned by the government without charge for years and restricted with a gag order thereafter.
2. Adrian Lamo
Adrian Lamo is a Grey Hat Hacker and showed the world (literally) that you can take down large websites with just URLs. Currently a notable public speaker and award winning journalist was once a expert hacker, who used to hack large corporations such as New York Times, Microsoft, Yahoo, Bank of America and Cingular.
3. Gary Mckinnon
Gary Mckinnon is the biggest Military Computer Hacker of all time. In an interview Gary Mckinnon said that he hacked into US military computer systems looking for information about UFO's. He broken security systems of NASA and Pentagon. And using his hacking skill he hacked 97 Computer systems in total.
4. Robert Tappan Morris
Robert Tappan Morris now working as Professor at MIT CS and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He discovered the buffer overflow and exploited both sendmail and fingerd with the first ever internet worm – now known as the Morris Worm. He was the first person in the United States, who was charged under 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
5. Shawn Fanning
What was once an IRC handle became synonymous with the free exchange of music files. Along with Jordan Ritter and Shaun Parker changed the music industry forever and set the course for the next decade of online media.
