The recent attacks on Sony Pictures have brought the issue of cyber warfare to forefront of international relations. Let’s have a look at some of the most damaging hacks in history!
A “hack” has always been a kind of shortcut or modification—a way to bypass or rework the standard operation of an object or system. Computers have been around for more than 60 years, and even during the formative years of computer development, there has always been a history of hacking. For old-timers who used mainframes, hacking was a way of playing around the machine, of proving to your peers that you were better than they were.
10Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon infiltrated 97 US Government computers, deleted files and left threatening messages. Arrested in 2002, the UK man claimed he was on a moral crusade to uncover documents about UFO-s.
09N.K Bot-Net
For three days in 2009, sites belonging to the NY Stock Exchanges, South Korea´s blue house and South Korean banks were attacked. North Korea´s authorities were responsible for the hack which turned 1666.000 machines into a huge bot-net.
08George Hotz
In 2010 George Hotz hacked the Sony Play-station 3 to play pirate games and made his methods public. When Sony threatened a lawsuit, anonymous stole and leaked personal info of Sony staff and 77M users.
07Citibank wire transfer
In 1994, Russian hackers broke into the wire transfer service of NY´s Citibank. They stole over 100 million dollars, wiring the money to accounts in Europe and Israel six suspects were arrested.
06Robert Tappan Morris
In 1998, Robert Tappan Morris infected 1000-s of computers after losing control of the self-replicating worm he´d designed. Repairs cost millions and the event led the U.S. government to create an emergency response for computers.
05Jonathan James
In 1999, Jonathan James hacked NASA system controlling living conditions on the International space station. They closed their network for three weeks and Jonathan James became the first youth to be imprisoned for cyber-crime.
042014 Sony hack
Angered by movie the interview´s mockery of North Korea, hackers leaked personal emails of Sony staff. Anonymous threats were made to cinemas planning to show the film and it was withdrawn from widespread release.
03Moonlight Maze
Organizations including NASA and the Pentagon were secretly monitored by hackers for two years. Hackers accessed thousands of files including maps of military installations and troop configurations.
02Data-stream cowboy
Richard Price, 16, hacked into US government system and stole weapons research and aircraft designs. He was described as the number one threat to U.S. security, causing more harm than the KGB.
01Pipe Explosion
In 1982, during the Cold war hackers caused an explosion so large it could be seen from space. The CIA tampered with system controlling Soviet gas pipes, leading to excessive valve pressures.
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