By Jimmy Nicholls| 02 June 2014 From tapping phone lines to taking down governments, we present the pioneers of hacking.

 

Hackers have enjoyed a mixed reputation over the last thirty years, romanticised and demonised in equal measure. Variously portrayed as weird, anti-social nerds or the revolutionaries of the digital age (and sometimes both), their exploits have often ended with threats of imprisonment, as shown this week in the release of Hector "Sabu" Xavier Monsegur, a LulzSec hacker turned informant for the FBI.

With hacking now a regular feature of the news cycle it's worth looking back on some of the pioneers. Whether you admire or admonish them, some of the heists pulled off by the hackers are impressive, showing what a few men (and it is mostly men) armed with keyboards can do to multinational organisations and some of the world's strongest governments.

 

Full Article