Hacking - A Brief History

The emergence of the first computers meant, almost simultaneously, the appearance of the first hackers. Over the past 40 years, the attempts of evading computer systems, either in personal interest or as means of protest, have become a constant threat to the security of PCs, telephones and computer systems. Here are the most important moments in the history of hacking: The Beginnings - The 60s The first operating systems developed at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) unveiled the first vulnerabilities. In 1965, it a problem was discovered in the Multics CTSS system on an IBM 7094, through which the repeated opening of the text editor was offered the password to any user. Hacking History - The 70s The 70s are important in the history of hacking due to the emergence of phone hackers (phreaks). One of them, John Draper, discovered that a whistle distributed as toy in a cereal box needed the same frequency as the AT & T phone systems. Using the whistle, hackers managed to create a system that allows it to bypass the toll system of the operator for free calls to any destination. Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniacki, were also involved in producing the "blue box", the hacking tool based on the whistle. Hacking History - The 80s In the 80s, most of the hackers have oriented toward the computer industry and began even to create the first online communication tools, the precursor of the Usenet network. The growing number of attacks led to the first U.S. law against hackers in 1986. The first international case of espionage was tried in 1989, and three German hackers were convicted for having stolen information of U.S. companies and authorities and selling it to the KGB. Hacking History - The 90s With the emergence of the Netscape Navigator browser in 1994, hackers started moving their information on the web. A year later, a few Russian hackers stole $ 10 million from Citibank. The 90s are important for AOHELL too, the program that allowed amateur hackers to disrupt the AOL services. In 1999, Microsoft released hundreds of patches for bugs in Windows 98, which could be exploited by hackers. Hacking History - The 2000s Since the attacks in 2000 against Yahoo!, Amazon and eBay, authorities became increasingly concerned about information security, sending more and more hackers to jail. In 2001, Microsoft was the victim of the first DNS attack. In 2007, the FBI arrested a group of hackers responsible for the infiltration of 1 million PCs and property damage worth $20 million. Hacking After 2010 Over the past two years, the most important group of hackers proved to be Anonymous, which has gathered many supporters through online attacks that many consider "on behalf of worthy causes." After the closing of the Megaupload website by the FBI, the Anonymous group organized one of the biggest attacks in hacking history with an offensive over multiple websites of U.S. authorities. Other important milestones in recent hacking history are Operation Aurora, through which the Chinese hackers stole sensitive information from Google, breaking the PlayStation network, through which have been exposed the accounts of 77 million users in 2011, as well as the instant breaking of 700,000 websites by a Bangladeshi hacker.

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