The 1999 Nasa Cyber Attack
The world of crime is becoming increasingly complex. It has gotten to the point where the most dangerous places for us are our own homes. The devices we so call think to be safe are the gateway to one of the biggest crime world, Cyber Attacks. A somebody sitting on the other side of the planet may potentially hack into anyone's computer and extract data. Hackers steal data from businesses and then blackmail them for large ransom payments. We would assume that Nasa, as one of the largest organizations in the United States, if not the globe, would be immune to cyber attacks. In actuality, this is far from the situation. The Unthinkable happened in 1999. Jonathan James, who went by the online handle "c0mrade," was able to penetrate Nasa and the Department of Defense, making him one of the most well-known hackers in the world. He was the first hacker to be sentenced to a juvenile detention centre.
Most of the organizations and companies hacked by Jonathan were between late August and October 1999 where he also breached the telecommunication of Miami-Dade school system. One of the more renowned hacking exploits Jonathan was part of was when he had hacked the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). This division is responsible for nuclear and chemical special weapons. Jonathan had installed a backdoor on the computer server and had intercepted over 3300 emails, as well as the usernames and passwords of department users.
Later Jonathan was able to enter the Marshall Space Flight Center in Hunstvilla where he stole and downloaded data worth $1.7 million. Because of this intrusion , Nasa was forced to shut their computers in the facility and undergo repairs that were estimated to be around $44,000. James house was then raided on Jan 26th 2000 where he was arrested and he was ultimately sentenced to seven months of house arrest and probation until he turned 18. When speaking with Frontline about his arrest, James indicated that he believes he has done nothing wrong and that he has caused no destruction or harm. He also stated that he was caught in the first place because he did not cover his tracks, which he did not do because he was not doing anything criminal (according to James), and that he was simply "Playing Around."
As we see , a 15 year old boy was able to hack into one of the most renowned organizations in the world. There is not one , but thousands and thousands of people who are capable on doing much worse and can hack anyone’s personal computer or network to extract the information they need. Ignorance of cyber crimes is not going to benefit anyone but actually learning and protecting ourselves could save up a lot of money and pain
About the Author
Pratham Arora