ACID PHREAK: On January 22 1990, nine days after the infamous Martin Luther King Day Crash, Acid PHREAK was raided by the Secret Service and New York State Police. All his equipment was confiscated and he was accused with causing the crash along with other members of the hacker gang, Legion of Doom.
MARK BERNAY: Another pioneer of phone phreaking Bernay has been called the electronic Pied Piper of phreaking because after discovering the secrets of "loop-around-pairs", a mechanism that allowed users to make free calls he traveled up and down the West Coast pasting
BLACK ICE: A well-known hacker board frequented by Legion of Doom hackers.
CAPTAIN CRUNCH: a.k.a. John Draper. In the late 1960s Draper made the discovery that a tiny plastic whistle from the Quaker Oats cereal Cap'n'Crunch could reproduce the 2600-cycle used by the Bell Telephone Company in its long distance calls. In 1969 Draper was contacted by someone called "Denny" who demonstrated how various tones played on a Hammond organ could also ensure free calls. Draper then built a device which combined the abilities of an organ and recorded - a primitive multi-frequency recorder later known as a "blue box". Draper took his invention to the UK while stationed there with Armed Forces and is thought to be responsible for the international spread of phone phreaking.
CAPTAIN ZAP: Became famous in the early '80s for hacking into ARPAnet, the White House and the Pentagon.
CHAOS COMPUTER CLUB: A German computer club which despite its name was dedicated to the mass dissemination of information regarding computers and computer technology. In 1986 the Club earned international notoriety when, after the meltdown at Chernobyl, they provided alternative information on contamination levels by hacking into government computers and releasing the data they found. Their findings were sufficiently at odds with official reassurances to make them the darlings of Germany's Green movement.
DOCTOR DIODE: Joined up with Captain Zap and started hacking into computer credit systems. He stole over $500,000 worth of computers and other goods but got off with expensive lawyers.
LESLIE LYNN DOUCETTE: AKA "Kyrie". Leslie Lynn Doucette was dubbed the female Fagin of the computer underworld. In her mid-30s Doucette was considerably older that the 150 or so adolescents she gathered into her ring. From her home she operated a sophisticated scheme dealing in stolen access codes: credit cards, telephone cards, corporate PBX access cobs, computer passwords and codes for Voice mail computers. when arrested in May 1987 Doucette was charged with causing losses of more than $1.6 million. Facing an 89 year prison sentence Doucette plea bargained and was given 27 months.
JOE ENGRESSIA: Sometimes called the 'granddaddy' of phone phreaks, Joe Engressia was a blind teenager who pioneered the detailed 'exploration' of Ma Bell's networks in the 1960s and 197Os. Engressia was the first to make the discovery of whistling into the phone line and for many years could mimic the 2600-cycle simply whistling into the phone. He was caught in 1969 whistling into a pay phone at the University of South Florida and was severely disciplined by his college. He became known nationally after the 1971 Esquire article and shortly after went to prison.
LEE FELSENSTEIN: One of the most famous second generation 'hardware hackers'. Felsenstein was committed to the principle of 'shared knowledge' and was instrumental in setting up and maintaining the Homebrew Computer Club.
FRIDAY the 13th: One of the first computer viruses set to trigger off on a certain date. Followed by the infamous Michelangelo.
FRY GUY: A 16 year-old hacker from Indiana, Fry Guy, who took his handle from a stunt where he hacked into McDonald's mainframe and gave generous raises to his hamburger flipping friends, was partly responsible for the crackdown on the Legion of Doom. Although far from being a member of the prestigious group, "Fry Guy" had learned from Urvile, one of the LoD members. Going on a credit card fraud spree, Fry Guy was eventually caught when the police put a DNR (Dialed Number Record) on his phone. While tracing his calls the police tracked down Urvile the Prophet and the Leftist. As a way of lessening his sentence Fry Guy blamed his corruption of the Legion of Doom (which decried any type of credit card fraud) and offered to testify against them .
EMMANUEL GOLDSTEIN: Publisher of the well-known journal 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. Goldstein came in contact with hacking through his involvement with the Yippie underground newsletter TAP (Technical Assistance Program). During the anti-war movement this newsletter, formerly called Party Line, was dedicated to collating and spreading Yippie rip-off techniques. After the war ended Goldstein started his own journal which was dedicated to techniques of computer intrusion and telephone "exploration" as well as exposes of Telco misdeeds and governmental failings. Interestingly because 2600 is printed on paper Goldstein could never be tried as he is protected by freedom of speech and the First Amendment.
MITCH KAPOR: Author of Lotus 1-2-3 Kapor has made a lasting mark as co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. After a series of arrests and prosecutions of small-time hackers the EFF began actively lobbying and funding the defense of hackers caught in the 'hacker crackdown' of the early 1990s. Along with journalist John Perry Barlow, Kapor created the EFF not necessarily to protect hackers but to extend the protection of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of expression to computer-based media. The Foundation dedicated itself to six aims, all related to influencing future legislation so that the civil liberties of computer users, whether they were hackers or not, would not be ignored. It attracted the support of a number of affluent technocrats in the computer industry - including $150,000 from Steve Wozniak.
KEVIN MITNIK: One of the most publicized hacker cases of the 1980's Mitnik and a friend first hacked into the NORAD (North American Air Defense command) mainframe in Colorado Springs. Although he didn't tamper with anything, he ran afoul of the law in 1981 when he and three friends were arrested for stealing technical manuals from the Pacific Telephone company: he was convicted and served six months. In 1983 he was caught hacking into a USC computer. Later he was accused of breaking into a TRW credit computer. In 1987 he was arrested for stealing software from a Southern California company and sentenced to 36 months probation. In 1988 he was arrested again and refused bail by several judges. He was also denied access to a phone while in jail for fear he may re-program it. This was the first case where a hacker was denied access to a phone.
KNIGHT LIGHTING: AKA Craig Neidorf. One of the foremost journalists native to the hacker underground. Knight Lightning was responsible for publishing files illicitly copied from a BellSouth computer in Phrack. This was the evidence the Secret Service used to try the Atlanta Three.
LEGION OF DOOM: The most well-known hacker gang of the '80s and early '90s. Deriving their name from Superman comic books the LoD was founded by "Lex Luthor" and comprised mainly of phone phreaks who hung out on the Plovernet board. Well known members included "Blue Archer", "Gary Seven", "Kerrang Khan", "Master of Impact", "Silver Spy", "The Marauder", "Compu-Phreak" and "Phucked Agent 04". Being the most flashy and self-publicizing, Legion of Doom were the major target in the governments "Hacker Crackdown" of 1990. The three hackers targeted in particular, sometimes called "The Atlanta Three" were "Urvile", "Prophet" and "The Leftist".
ROBERT MORRIS JR.: Author of the infamous Internet worm that in 1988 crashed some six thousand Internet computers. Morris, a Harvard graduate, was the son of the chief scientist at the National Computer Security Center. Morris claimed the "virus" was designed as a worm but due to bad programming it got out of control. He was found guilty and given three years probation, a fine of $10,000 and four hundred hours of community service.
PHIBER OPTIK: Busted along with Acid Phreak, Phiber Optik's case became media copy when his predicament was publicized on the Well. In February 1991, nearly a year after his bust, Phiber Optik was finally charged with first-degree Computer Tampering and Trespass. Pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge he got off with 36 hours community service. His case however was instrumental in alerting the Well community to the kinds of police harassment hackers were suffering as a result of the 'hacker crackdown' and they retaliated with the creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (See Mitch Kapor)
ROSCOE GANG: A group of hackers which included Kevin Mitnick centered in the LA area. The gang allegedly used PCs to harass their victims, break into Defense Department computers and sabotage businesses. They were charged with defrauding DEC and MCI and with transporting proprietary software across state lines. Supposedly the software stolen allowed Mitnick to break into DEC's computers and cause $4 million worth of damage.
SHADOW HALK: A.K.A. Herbert Zinn Jr., a 16 year-old high school dropout accused of using a PC to hack into a Bell laboratories computer in New York, an AT&T computer in North Carolina, another AT&T computer at Robbins Air force Base in Georgia, an IBM facility in New York, and other computers belonging to the Illinois Bell Telephone Company. He was eventually sentenced to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
STEVEN K JOBS/STEVE WOZNIAK: Known as the creators of Apple Computer, the 'two Steves' started out making blue-boxes for phone phreakers. While taking part in the Homebrew Computer Club they built the first Apple computer comprised of little more that a mother board. The Apple computers, built in a garage, were revolutionary - not just because of their size but also because they worked on a principle of 'open architecture' which allowed users not only to see how the computer worked but to make their own adjustments.
VAXBUSTERS: A loosely knit international group dedicated to breaking the security of VAX computers. Had strong contacts with Germany's Chaos Computer Club.
