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The Fifteen Greatest Hacking Exploits

He Wanted To Know More About UFOs

After the Roswell affair and Area 51, countless rumors have circulated regarding the US Army and allegations that it hides certain things dealing with extra-terrestrial life forms. Fantasy for some, a serious subject for others - the debate still rages on. A 39-year-old Scot decided to contribute his own answers to it. How? Simply by invading the Army's computers...

Curiosity Leads to Jail

Gary McKinnon is a British hacker driven by curiosity, as most are - a curiosity that is unlimited, because he was quickly noted for achieving what some today call "the greatest computer attack against military sites of all time". Persuaded that the Army was hiding certain details concerning UFOs, between 2001 and 2002 he decided to access one of NASA's servers. The traces of this act were quickly found in computers belonging to the Army, Navy, Department of Defense, Air Force and Pentagon. In total he gained illegal entry to 97 machines, each time looking for information on flying saucers.

It did not take long for the US government to link the security breaches to McKinnon, and launch its pursuit. He was first arrested in 2002, before being released without charges due to a lack of evidence. A new arrest took place in 2005; this time he was released on probation, and stripped of his right to access the Internet. If he were to be extradited to the United States, he could face a sentence of up to 70 years in prison.

  • They should have very serious consequences for hackers. I'm tired of defaced websites, viruses, trojans, etc. Although it is fun to screw around with other people's computers..especially if they've done it to you...but either way there should be some huge penalties for hacking. I say chop off a thumb on the first offence. 2nd offence: chope off the rest of the fingers on that hand. Hackers along with script kiddies would cease to exist.
  • itadakimasu
    sounds like you have been the victim of malware and virii while doing some questionable internet browsing...
  • Well, 'Anonymous', I hope you're using Tor to browse the 'intarweb', you worthless plebian.
    Here in the USA, we aren't barbarians, and the only people who would even deserve such harsh treatment would be rapists and their ilk. Even so, we just lock em up and release them on probation a few months/years later. :P
    Not perfect, but I say cutting off fingers because you're too stupid to take basic steps to protect your system? Kinda harsh.
    The difference between a robber and a hacker, is that you can completely stop a hacker by unplugging your phone line from your modem.
    Do that, for the sake of humanity. :P
  • arkadi
    Well it is important info, but i don't think you can call them the best :) they got basted after all. Governments got best hackers if you ask me.
  • Reynod
    There are numerous other well documented hacks that probably deserved a mention.

    At least you did take the moral high ground.

    You neglected to mention Electron and Phoenix ... clearly they were better than most of these mentioned here.

  • deadliest
    hmmm so this hacker list is not complete oh oh oh , you should have guys, it was most interesting reading about this. But i think hackers are a necessary evil without them how would i play my pirated games :D
  • @ Arkadi

    Lol, where do you think the Government found there hackers? They hired guys like this ^^Rofl
  • Script kiddies. Blegh.
  • ahhhhhh
    its good to be a hacker
  • jordanprogrammer
    the best website for programming language: