A 15-year old that managed to hack NASA | cybernews.com

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Back in 1999, at the age of 15, Jonathan James managed to install a backdoor in US military servers and access the source code of the International Space Station.

Better known by his internet alias “c0mrade”, James managed to find vulnerabilities and establish a backdoor into the US Department of Defence 23 years ago.

Entranced by the possibilities of computing, James has used hacking for his own benefit years before his daring hacking of the US government.

But while he managed to get away with hacking school PCs to alter his marks, hacking NASA didn’t go that well. Once the agency discovered James’s tampering in their systems, it took them a three-week investigation and over forty thousand dollars to find the young hacker.

Repercussions came knocking with bulletproof vests on: special agents took James in and soon, the teenager became the first juvenile to be sentenced for hacking.

Compared to adults, who could have faced years of prison time, James was let out with a slap on the wrist: just 7 months of home arrest and 2-year probation period.

James’s story doesn’t end here though, in 2008, he was once again investigated in relation to hacks of Texas department store chain TJX. Even though James denied the involvement, the pressure of being investigated again might have been too much.

In the May of the same year, James ended his own life at the age of 24. His suicide note said it was the only way for him to “regain control”.

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[trustee]

He should have been hired and helped to stir his abilities in the right direction, so sad he decided to end it all. 😢

[Earth_Jitsu]

The only way to to fully gain control is to completely give up control. Got it.

[tommyboy]

They should have hired him.
This reminds me of Arron Swartz although he was not doing any damage and threatened with years of prison.

[DeadDad]

Tragic ending to a fascinating story that will forever be a part of history.

[lesliewelch]

A lot of these hackers commit suicide, or was they helped on there way because they knew to much?

[Startrakk]

So once he got the slap on the wrist he was pretty much on their radar from there

[trustee]

Dude, please can you share with me the software you used for the AI ?

[RatBagDad]

Is this where the term Life-Hack originated?

[NightcoreSkies]

Sad to hear that he went down the wrong path,

but on a different note, are you sure he's a virtual AI newsanchor?