History of Cyber Attacks by

1970s

30123911 — 2024-09-03 14:15:57 UTC

In 1971, John T Draper (nicknamed Captain Crunch) and his friend Joe Engrissia (nicknamed Joybubbles) used a small toy whistle to hack phones and make free calls.

In 1979, Kevin Mitnick was dared to hack into The Ark, the computer system at Digital Equipment Corporation used for developing their operating system software. He pretended to be one of the project's lead developers and convinced them to give him the password. His friends used the account to download confidential materials and gave up his name.

1980s

30123911 — 2024-09-03 14:31:41 UTC

In 1983, a group of hackers named 'The 414s' broke into 60 computer systems at various institutions. Resulting in many held hearings on computer security and laws being passed.

In 1984, Fred Cohen developed the first ever virus. A trojan hidden inside software with a worm as a payload.

In 1986, the government passed the "Computer Fraud and Abuse Act," which made it a crime to break into computer systems.

A hacker named 'The Mentor' was arrested by the FBI. He then published a book named "Hacker Manifesto" which still serves as the most famous book about hackers to this day.

In 1988, Robert Morris unleashed the Morris Worm, which infected thousands of computers. Causing mass panic.

1990s

30123911 — 2024-09-03 14:48:58 UTC

In 1990, Kevin Poulsen hacked LA Radio stations KIIS-FM to block 25 phone lines, and win the prize of a Porsche 944 S2.

In 1991, Phillip Zimmerman created the PGP encryption tool and made it available to the public.

In 1994, a man named Vladimir Levin tried to steal $10.7 million by hacking Citibank computers.

In 1995, Chris Lamprecht became known as the first man to be banned from the Internet after being sentenced to 70 months in prison for money laundering.

In 1999, the Melissa worm was released and quickly became the most costly malware outbreak yet.

For hacking a bank, two Chinese hackers were sentenced to death.