16-year-old black hat hacker Jonathan James, became the first juvenile imprisoned for cybercrime. James gained his notoriety by implementing a series of successful intrusions into various systems. In an anonymous PBS interview, he professes, “I was just looking around, playing around. What was fun for me was a challenge to see what I could pull off.” James’ major intrusions targeted high-profile organizations such as NASA and the Department of Defense. He cracked into NASA computers, stealing software worth approximately $1.7 million. He also hacked into the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and intercepted over 3,000 highly secretive messages passing to and from the DTRA employees, while collecting many usernames and passwords. Also known as “c0mrade,” James committed suicide using a gun, On May 18, 2008, at the age of 25. His suicide was apparently motivated by the belief that he would be prosecuted for crimes he had not committed. “I honestly, honestly had nothing to do with TJX,” James wrote in his suicide note, “I have no faith in the ‘justice’ system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public. Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control.” Jonathan James was known as “c0mrade” on the Internet. What is his ticket to fame? He was convicted and sent to prison for hacking in the United States–all while he was still a minor. At only fifteen years of age, he managed to hack into a number of networks, including those belonging to Bell South, Miami-Dade, the U.S. Department of Defense, and NASA.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 13:30:00 +0000
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