The Man who hacked NASA and the FBI.
Hello everyone! Today we're going to talk about Gary Mckinnon, the man who hacked NASA and the FBI. You may have read or heard this story before, but i wanted to go through it again with you guys. Let's get started
Behind the mask of "Solo"
Gary Mckinnon was born in Scotland on the 10th of February, 1966. When he was young, Gary was fascinated with hacking and programming. While other kids were playing video games, Gary created his own games and programs perfecting his skill for a major hack. His passion for hacking started when he watched the film called "WarGames", which is about a teenager who hacks the pentagon's supercomputer in pursuit of more Video Games, and he starts a thermonuclear game which launches all of the United States Nuclear Weapons. Later on his life he began working as a system administrator. After that under the nickname "Solo" he hacked NASA and the FBI, which now is considered the Biggest Military Hack of all time.
How did the hack happen? and what did he find.
Between 2001 and 2002, Gary hacked 97 Military computers from his girlfriend's bedroom. The US claimed he deleted critical files which disabled 2000 Computers for 24 hours. He also deleted weapon logs from the US's Navy computers, which disabled a network of 300 computers. He also wrote a message on the US's Military website which said "Your security Sucks!", He also claims to have seen multiple photos of UFOs and he tried to download a black and white picture of a UFO. But before the download could complete he was disconnected. They traced him down using his own email, he was arrested on March,2001. Charged for damaging 300 Computers with a fee of 800,000 Dollars. He never denied that he hacked the Computers, The US tried to extradite him for the UK but the court refused.
What happened to him?
After 10 years of fighting the US Government on court, Gary restarted his life and got in to search optimization. He charges for 40 pound a hour, helping people for getting their site ranked on google. He was permitted to stay in the UK by the court and his trying to get his life together after all that drama.
Thank you guys for reading this article! if you liked it please give it a upvote! Thanks.
Sources:
1. Gary McKinnon profile: Autistic 'hacker' who started writing computer programs at 14
2.Hacker Gary McKinnon turns into a search expert
3.'UFO HACKER' TELLS WHAT HE FOUND
Good article. I'm a fan of Gary!
Too bad NASA is just tool of military and gov, instead of actual research institute with open lines of communication to the public.
They can't keep secrets to save their lives; so it should be no surprise what Gary found; and you can go into a lot more detail about it if you read online about it.
Indeed my friend.
I remember reading that the "hack" was simply using the factory password ( Username: admin Password:password) on Nasa's router. I don't know how true that is but it's hilarious if accurate.
I didn't buy his "severely autistic" defense, but opposed extradition because the hack took place in the UK and wasn't a serious crime here (in fact I'm not even sure it was a criminal offence at the time).
Yeah i've heard that too. It could be possible but not likely because the US stated that he had hacked 950 password from NASA Computers, so he knew the passwords. And yeah the autistic defense is bullshit, he knew what he was doing and did it. Thanks for your comment, appreciate it!
Default credentials are very likely. Its an incredibly rampant problem today still. I'm sure it was even worse at that time.
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