I Hacked The US Government Aged 16 | Minutes With Podcast | @LADbible

Mustafa Al-Assam was once part of the notorious Anonymous organisation, hacking into the world’s biggest websites and databases.

He then started his own hacker group, taking down the entire PlayStation network for three weeks and leaking the details of 73,000 X Factor contestants… all whilst still a teenager in school. Mustafa explains how he got away with it all for so long and the moment he was eventually caught.

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Extraordinary Lives is a podcast from the team behind LADbible’s Minutes With.

We speak to remarkable people who each have a unique story to tell - spies, terrorists, hackers, gangsters, killers, people with particular conditions, and those who’ve lived unreal experiences. These are the stories that resonated the most with LADbible’s audience when they were originally told on Minutes With.

In this podcast, LADbible’s Ben Powell-Jones sits down with those individuals for a more in-depth conversation, revealing untold tales for the first time.

Host: Ben Powell-Jones, Twitter: @BenPowellJones

#LADbible #UNILAD

[LADbible]

Thanks to Mustafa Al-Bassam for joining us!

[lorellgingrich]

This was fascinating. This guy was clearly extremely smart as a child. During the interview my thought was that these people being hacked should really have been thankful that non-malignant people were pointing out the flaws in their systems, but instead, ego takes over... I wish him every success.

[juliebrooke]

Governments and large corporations should be snapping up these hackers, employing them to point out their security flaws.

[sophiaisabelle]

He seems like a very strategic person to be able to pull something like that off. Happy Holidays to everyone.

[richardjowi]

The CEO of a cyber security company using the same password across all platforms is crazy 🤣🤣😂

[gazoakleychef]

Really interesting & fascinating guy, obviously also a super genius

[drumcdoo]

Brings back memories of the ilm 'Catch me if you can' There's so many very smart kids who get a buzz out of hacking and use it as a toy. They don't need to be put behind bars, but to be offered secure jobs by companies who can use their talents to save themselves from losing millions...

[Hotkife]

It amuses me how often large cooperations still fail so hard to pre-pubescent kids with a computer.

[pri.sci.lla.]

The problem is they don’t pay well enough or hire the best people so stuff like this is able to happen. The FBI should be embarrassed a kid could hack them… a huge national security risk.

[killerofothers]

A teenager with all that guts and the knowledge to defend himself against law and not breaking?? Amazing Respect

[thewhitbyphotographer]

One name that fascinated me with Lulzsec was Barret Brown. I don't even think he hacked, yet served the most time for the HB Garry Federal Hack. Rather than let prison break him he continually challenged the prison system and won awards for his Journalism from within his cell. I think he was the one Mustaffa talked about being in rehab.

[danw]

The interviewer is a credit to ladbible. What a great job he does. I would have been interested to know more about his CIA and Pentagon breaches, but I assume you weren’t allowed to talk about those?

[Avrohomperl]

The first member to be arrested now has a podcast with the FBI agent who arrested and flipped him, it's excellent. 👌 You'll hear his POV on his arrest etc.

"Hacker and the fed"

[AadamSaleem]

This Was A Great Video And A Incredible Interview Keep Up The Good Work And I Can’t Wait For The Next One Keep It Up

[notthisguyagain]

The only problem I have with hacking is that Sony was hacked around Christmas time years ago and I couldn’t get online to play games with my friends.

[TheMrChugger]

Gotta start harnessing guys like Mustafa, you want them on your side, not in a prison

[mcc]

How fitting to have a vpn promo when you have a literal hacker on the pod🤣🤣

[vicki]

What a fascinating guy, extremely intelligent aswell, can't believe big organisations use obvious passwords

[MichaelTruong]

"What we''ll do straight away now is get into [the hack] in a lot more detail.... but just going back to the beginning can you tell me what your childhood was like?"

[manorathbhatt]

WOW 😳, THIS MAN IS NUTS, I APPRECIATE LADBIBLE TV FOR POSTING SUCH INFORMATIVE CONTENT SO THAT NO ONE MAKES THE KIND OF MISTAKES, THAT THESE PEOPLE MADE 👍👍