~ Hacker Computer Pioneers ~

[MysteRy]

Name: Kevin Mitnick
Born: August 6, 1963

Computer related contributions

American computer security consultant, author, social engineering expert, and hacker.

Mitnick was the most-wanted computer criminal in the United States when convicted of various computer and communications related crimes in the late 20th century. On February 15, 1995 Mitnick was arrested at his apartment by the FBI. He ended up serving five years in prison.

Publications

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker (2011)

The Art Of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind The Exploits Of Hackers, Intruders, And Deceivers (2005)

Quotes

"As a young boy, I was taught in high school that hacking was cool."

"I was pretty much the government's poster boy for what I had done."


Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC

Kevin Mitnick on Twitter

[MysteRy]

Name: Kevin Poulsen
Born: 1965 in Pasadena, California, USA

Computer related contributions

American former Black hat hacker who is currently News Editor at Wired.com.

His best-appreciated hack was a takeover of all of the telephone lines for Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM, guaranteeing that he would be the 102nd caller and win the prize of a Porsche 944 S2

Publications

Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground (2011)

Kingpin: The True Story Of Max Butler, The Master Hacker Who Ran A Billion Dollar Cyber Crime Network (2011)

Honors and awards

Webby Award (International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences) (2011)

SANS Top Cyber Security Journalists (2010)

MIN Best of the Web (Magazine Industry Newsletter) (2010)

MIN Digital Hall of Fame (Magazine Industry Newsletter) (2009)

Knight-Batten Award for Innovation in Journalism (2008)


Kevin Poulsen on Twitter

[MysteRy]

Name: Kim Dotcom
Born: January 21, 1974 in Kiel, West Germany

Computer related contributions

German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur also known as Kimble

Founder of Megaupload and its associated websites

Rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as a teenage hacker and internet entrepreneur. He was convicted of several crimes, and received a suspended prison sentence in 1994 for computer fraud and data espionage, and another suspended prison sentence in 2003 for insider trading and embezzlement.

Launched a new project/website entitled "Mega" in January of 2013 that cloud storage service that uses encryption to protect users from government or third party "spies" from invading users' privacy.

Quotes

"It's kind of like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, you know? If you want to go after someone and you have a political goal you will say whatever it takes. These are fabrications and lies. There are a hundred other companies out there that offer the same service like us."


Kim Dotcom Website

[MysteRy]

Name: Linus Benedict Torvalds
Born: December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland

Computer related contributions

Original developer of Linux.

Publications

Open Sources: Voices from the open Source revolution

Linux Kernel Internals

The Hacker Ethic: A Radical Approach to the Philosophy of Business

Just a little fun

Quotes

"If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it."

"See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too."

"Software is like sex: it's better when it's free."

"Talk is cheap. Show me the code."


Linus Torvalds blog

[MysteRy]

Name: Michael John Muuss
Born: October 16, 1958 in Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Death: November 20, 2000 (Age:42)

Computer related contributions

Author of the freeware network tool Ping which has been implemented on a large number of operating systems, initially BSD Unix, but later others including Windows and Mac OS X

Senior scientist specializing in geometric solid modeling, ray-tracing, MIMD architectures and digital computer networks at the United States Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

Wrote a number of software packages (including BRL-CAD) and network tools (including ttcp and the concept of the default route or "Default Gateway") and contributed to others including Bind

Muuss is mentioned in two books, The Cuckoo's Egg and Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier, for his role in tracking down crackers

Honors and awards

USENIX Association Lifetime Achievement Award (Flame) (1993)


Michael Muuss website

[MysteRy]

Name: Paul Graham
Born: November 13, 1964 in Weymouth, Dorset, England

Computer related contributions

British programmer, venture capitalist, and essayist.

Known for his work on LISP (a family of computer programming languages).

Co-founder of Viaweb, the first application service provider (ASP) (presently Yahoo! Store).

Co-founder of the Y Combinator seed capital firm.

Publications

Hackers & Painters (2004)

ANSI Common LISP (1995)

On LISP (1993)

Honors and awards

Business Week 25 Most Influential People on the Web (2008)

Quotes

"I get a lot of criticism for telling founders to focus first on making something great, instead of worrying about how to make money. And yet that is exactly what Google did. And Apple, for that matter. You'd think examples like that would be enough to convince people."


Paul Graham on Twitter

Paul Graham Website

[MysteRy]

Name: Richard Greenblatt
Born: December 25, 1944 in Portland, Oregon USA

Computer related contributions

American computer programmer.

One of the founders of the hacker community along with Bill Gosper.

Main implementer of Maclisp on the PDP-6.

Wrote Mac Hack, the first computer program to play tournament-level chess and the first to compete in a human chess tournament.

One of the main designers of the MIT LISP machine.